Two pharmaceuticals and one medical device package were among those to win the Institute of Packaging Professionals' 2007 AmeriStar Awards. In the Pharmaceutical and Drug category, Mylan Pharmaceuticals chose MeadWestvaco Health & Beauty Packaging's Shellpak (shown) to answer Wal-Mart's challenge to its generic prescription drug producers to provide cost-effective, patient-adherence packaging.
The Shellpak promotes adherence, is child-resistant and senior-friendly, assembles on automated fulfillment equipment, and reduces in-house pharmacy errors and costs.
In the same category, Wyeth's ClickCase won an AmeriStar for its custom tablet dispenser for Lybrel. The pack promotes patient compliance and enables easy dispensing. The innovative design utilized many technologies to meet all of the technical and marketing requirements.
Meanwhile, the Universal Thermoform Sterile Barrier Packaging System from Perfecseal won in the medical device category. This packaging protects multiple orthopedic devices and reduces the carbon footprint. The design allows consolidation of more than 300 devices into two tray systems.
Overall, there were 28 AmeriStar winners, selected from 100 that were submitted for award consideration. Awards were based on package innovation, sustainability, protection, economics, performance, and marketing. Winners were chosen across food, food-institutional, beverage, health and beauty aids, household products, outdoor and gardening, other retail, industrial/commercial, and promotional categories.
