Findings from the Pharmapack Report 2021 have been released ahead of Pharmapack Europe, which will be held next week at Paris Expo, Porte de Versailles (October 13-14, 2021). The event is the leading hub for stakeholders across all parts of the pharmaceutical packaging and drug delivery supply chain, with a maximum of 5000 attendees and 360 exhibitors expected to be present.
The report includes an in-depth review from Team Consulting and Cambridge Design Partnership and offers a positive appraisal of pharma’s drug delivery device market in 2022 and beyond.
A key feature of the Pharmapack event is the start-up hub, aimed to provide a platform for the global audience to meet with innovators and discover early-stage products.
p>In the short term, the report predicts that COVID vaccines will continue to sustain a strong demand for syringes and needles. However, moving forward, device innovation will focus on patient experience and connectivity, exploring how this can improve the democratisation of data and improve adherence.The challenge the Pharmapack report identifies is: ‘how will developers adapt to both changing data custodianship regulation’, but also, how this interacts with the drive towards sustainability. This is particularly relevant for smart packaging and connected devices which often use virgin materials and single-use plastics.
“There may be push back from consumers or even reputational damage over environmental concerns about waste. Added connectivity also has a significant impact on carbon output during the development phase, as well as at end of life, meaning developers will need to carefully weigh up the benefits against the environmental costs. A case could be made that adding connectivity could go some way to offset environmental costs, as it could potentially improve patient adherence and lead to less costly hospital interventions as a result of patients not taking their therapy as prescribed. However, there is not enough data to accurately understand this impact at this time,” said Peter Matthewson, Head of Electronic Engineering, Team Consulting.
In fact, how consumers experience the use of devices, incentives for adoption and packaging will become a central tenet in offsetting the impacts of new devices while innovation catches up with sustainability concerns. Uri Baruch, Head of Drug Delivery at Cambridge Design Partnership, predicts that pharma companies and device developers will increasingly look directly at successful consumer brands for lessons in how to improve adoption. The drug side effects themselves should also be evaluated in terms of device design, the report says, as a drug that has unpleasant side effects is more likely to see patients slipping in adherence.
Speaking ahead of the event, Sherma Ellis-Daal, Brand Manager for Pharmapack Europe, added: “Our experts point to an incredibly prosperous and innovative period for drug delivery devices in the next few years. And we are really excited to help foster this creative environment with both our online sessions on trends, but also, the in-person innovation hub.”