PhutureMed: Making Pharma Packaging Smarter

Palladio Group, a packaging solutions provider for pharmaceuticals, and E Ink Holdings, (E Ink), an innovator of electronic ink technology, have announced the release of PhutureMed, an advanced packaging solution specifically for pharmaceuticals.

PhutureMed supports a number of features to monitor the quality of medicines shipped to patients and improve the adherence of patients to prescribed drug therapies. PhutureMed has an integrated E Ink display and sensors to constantly monitor the ambient conditions of the medication. The E Ink display shows the patient or customer any events that occur outside the required handling conditions, even if the batteries are completely drained. Patients and customers can be confident that the quality of the medication had not been compromised.

PhutureMed can also be programmed to record all accesses to the package, providing a time log when the medication was taken by the patient. This vital information can be recalled, analyzed and shared with practitioners. This can remove any uncertainty by the patient about whether they have taken the medication at the required times.

“We always had a vision to incorporate intelligence into our packaging solutions,” said Gabriele Iannizzotto, Palladio Corporate product and innovation manager. “E Ink’s low power electronic ink technology was the only display product that provided a rugged, easily visible solution that could deliver the type of product we envisioned.”

Hui Lee, senior director for business development at E Ink adds, "We have always believed that the unique features of E Ink’s electronic ink products enable new products that can only be developed using E Ink displays. We are very excited about our collaboration with Palladio Group. They are a leader in the pharmaceutical packaging field and this work will continue to diversify E Ink’s business into new markets with unique products. With the launch, we look forward to engaging with customers to develop solutions to address their specific needs.”

The E Ink display module incorporated into the package has built-in temperature sensors, timer and activation triggers. Using the timers and sensors, the module records a log of all events that the package is exposed to during storage and usage. The unique properties of the E Ink display ensure that relevant information will continue to be displayed even in the event of complete loss of battery power. This provides confidence to the supplier and the patient that the medication has not been compromised. PhutureMed is presently at the prototype stage and is available for engagements with pharmaceutical companies.

Source: Palladio Group.