Sampling package optimization wins HDMA award

At the recent HDMA Distribution Management Conference (Baltimore, March 16), AmerisourceBergen Packaging Group and Pfizer jointly won the first Distribution Management Award (the replacement of the earlier iBusiness Solutions award of HDMA). The winning entry was the application of the IntuiDose compliance package for Pfizer’s Toviaz (fesoterodine fumarate), a treatment for overactive bladder.

Working together, ABPG’s Anderson Packaging unit (Rockford, IL) and Pfizer sought to provide a compliance-prompting format that was both child-resistant and cost-effective to manufacture and distribute. Anderson’s IntuiDose folded-carton features several panels that carry patient-education materials, and a panel for the blister-packed tablets. The companies say that the design proved economical while promoting medication adherence.

In January, Andeson Packaging announced that it had recently won two contracts for the Intuidose package; one a 14-day starter pack, and the otehr a 10-day, two-panel compliance prompting package. This pharmacy pack features multiple product strengths in the course of treatment, using concise graphics and instructions to guide the patient through the dosing regimen.

HDMA’s Distribution Management Award is intended to honor member companies’ efforts to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the healthcare supply chain and to enhance trading partner relationships.