Bilcare and MeadWestVaco jointly acquire International Labs

Bilcare and MeadWestvaco Corp (MWV) are to jointly acquire pharmaceutical packaging company International Labs, of St Petersburg, Florida. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The partnership combines MWV's capabilities in healthcare packaging design and innovation, including compliance and injection moulded packaging; Bilcare's research and expertise in materials, products, processes and services that enable the safe and effective integration of pharmaceuticals and packaging; and International Labs' contract packaging services for retail pharmacies, and large generic and branded drug manufacturers.

The joint acquisition will streamline the supply chain by eliminating several steps in the distribution channel, helping to make compliance packaging more widely available to global consumers, especially through growing low-cost generic and branded drug programmes.

International Labs is using the MWV compliance packaging solution Shellpak for generic and branded drug programmes. Shellpak is a pre-filled medication package that can be immediately distributed to consumers without the need for pharmacists to count pills.

The pack design integrates a foil-backed blisterpack with a labelled, injection molded plastic shell, and eliminates the need for transport packaging. The design is said to enhance patient outcomes by motivating and reminding patients to take medication as prescribed.

"The combination of our turnkey capabilities has helped enable the creation of new, highly efficient, consumer-oriented supply chains that are changing the economics of global healthcare and improving patient outcomes," said Bruce Thomas, senior vice president, Global Market Strategy for MWV. "We are continuing to work with retailers and generic and branded pharmaceutical companies to bring our innovative healthcare compliance solutions to serve the fast-growing needs of the global healthcare market."

"Bilcare is intently focused on developing technologies that improve patient health outcomes," added Mohan Bhandari, chairman and managing director of Bilcare. "For example, Bilcare's nanotechnology-based secure fingerprint is a major step toward securing the pharmaceutical product supply chain in its entirety from the manufacturer to the patient. This highly advanced technology has ability to not only secure the e-pedigree needs via a safe authentication system but also provide a wide range of business solutions."