Paris, 8th February 2018: Pharmapack Europe (#PharmapackEU), organised by UBM, announced the winners of the much celebrated 2018 Pharmapack Awards. Due to the outstanding quality of entries, six worthy winners were chosen across two categories, ‘Exhibitor Innovation’ and ‘Health Products’.

In the Exhibitor Innovation category, there were three winners with BIOCORP, West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. and sfm medical devices chosen for excellence in ‘Patient safety and convenience’, ‘Ease-of-use and patient compliance’, and ‘Patient centricity and customisation’, respectively.  However, because of the sheer breadth of innovations within this category, the judges felt compelled to commend a list of ‘Top 10 Innovators’.

BIOCORP received the Exhibitor Innovation award for ‘Patient safety and convenience’ for Onejet, the first motor driven disposable autoinjector, compatible with standard primary containers (PFS from 1 ml to 2.25 ml), designed to easily deliver high viscosity products.

Winner of the Exhibitor Innovation award for ‘Ease-of-use and patient compliance’, West Pharmaceutical Services’ SelfDose® Patient-Controlled Injector is a simple two-step operation, designed to make administration far easier for patients with dexterity challenges. The patient only has to remove the cap and press against the skin to deliver a subcutaneous injection, and audible and visual end-of-dose indicators confirm successful administration of a prescribed dose.

The nextaro® by sfm medical devices GmbH was bestowed the Exhibitor Innovation award for ‘Patient centricity and customisation’. nextaro® is the quality benchmark for reconstitution of lyophilized pharmaceutical components. The product works using a patented screw system and optimises handling through the use of two plastic components. This construction means it is especially suitable for people with physical disabilities.

In total, there were 22 cutting-edge exhibitor products displayed in the Innovation Gallery. The remaining innovators in the Top 10 were Perlen Converting AG’s PERLAMED-BLISTair; Gerresheimer’s Gx InnoSafe; Nemera’s e-Advancia®; Schott AG’s iQ™; Baswen Inc.’s Pharma Adherence IoT Pack; Cambridge Design Partnership’s Dialog User Insights Research Toolkit, and PLASTIFRANCE’s JUST’ADOSE & JUST'ADOSE+.

In the Health Product category, three winners received recognition: UCB Pharma, GSK Consumer Health and Virbac.

The CIMZIA® Pack of 2 AutoClicks® Prefilled Pens by UCB Pharma was recognised for its feats in patient compliance with a packaging system that puts rheumatoid arthritis patients and others with hand dexterity issues at the forefront. The pen has a button-free delivery system and a wide non-slip grip, with new elements that help to improve patient compliance including a large viewing window and a clicking sound at the start and end of a full dose injection.

GSK Consumer Health’s VOLTAREN "No Mess" applicator was distinguished as a winner for its improvements in patient hygiene and adherence. The packaging enables consumers to directly apply the pain relief gel without having to touch it – which is both more practical and hygienic as consumers do not have to wash their hands post-application.

Virbac was awarded for its unique and innovative All in One Contactless Multidose Delivery Cap, the only “all-in-one” solution for the application of liquid products for both the animal and human health markets.

Anne Schumacher, Brand Director at Pharmapack Europe, commented, “I would like to commend all six of the winners at this year’s Pharmapack Awards who demonstrated excellence in drug delivery, packaging and automation for better patient safety and compliance – critically taking into account consumers with severe illnesses and difficulties in dexterity. The judges particularly highlighted that such was the quality of the entries this year, that recognizing a list of top 10 exhibitor innovators was justified.”

“For the past 21 years, Pharmapack has been devoted to showcasing the most outstanding, cutting-edge innovations in the pharmaceutical packaging sector, from the products highlighted through to the content sessions. The exceptional calibre of this year’s entries echoes our core theme of pushing technology to its limits to ultimately improve patients’ lives, and is a direct reflection of how the wider industry is advancing,” added Schumacher.