The Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP) recently announced the 2026 AmeriStar Award recipients and the 2026 Student AmeriStar Award winners.
This year's winning healthcare entries take on material reduction and recyclability, sterile barrier performance, child-resistant and senior-friendly access, and line efficiency. The awards span pharmaceutical, medical device, diagnostic and combination product packaging, reflecting how the category is responding to tightening regulation, patient-centric design demands and sustainability pressure.
Best in Show
AeroFlexx, AeroFlexx Innovative Liquid Packaging Technology
AeroFlexx leads this year’s winners, which earned the competition’s highest honor, Best in Show, as well as awards in Design Excellence and Health and Beauty.
AeroFlexx is a mono-material liquid package that carries characteristics of both flexible and rigid formats in a single structure. Through source reduction and the ability to incorporate recycled content, the AeroFlexx Pak uses up to 85% less virgin plastic than a conventional rigid bottle with a separate cap and label. An integrated self-sealing valve replaces the cap or pump, allowing controlled one-handed dispensing while reducing the risk of spills and leaks.
The format also delivers benefits upstream of consumer use. Unfilled Paks ship flat and occupy less than 10% of the space required to transport an equivalent quantity of preformed empty rigid bottles. It consolidates the bottle, cap, and label supply streams into one, and it is ISTA-6 Amazon approved for e-commerce distribution.
The design connects structural performance, consumer experience, supply chain efficiency, and material reduction, earning AeroFlexx top recognition among the 2026 Professional AmeriStar winners.
Drug and Pharmaceutical
Amcor, Amcor HealthCare Reclosable Pouch
Amcor's HealthCare Reclosable Pouch shows how flexible formats can open new options for over-the-counter healthcare products. Amcor took a high-barrier pouch structure common in food applications and adapted it into a recycle-ready package for gummy supplements, pairing product protection with a child-resistant zipper.
For packaging professionals and students, the entry illustrates how a package can adapt to shifting consumer and sustainability expectations without giving up performance. The pouch delivers oxygen and moisture barriers that help maintain product quality while using considerably less plastic than a comparable rigid bottle. It also runs on existing pouch filling equipment, which makes adoption more practical for manufacturers.
Digital printing supports shorter runs and clear presentation of required product information, and a hanger hole broadens retail merchandising options. The result is a strong example of material science, package engineering, and manufacturing efficiency converging in a healthcare package that addresses product protection, recyclability, and supply chain performance.
Health and Beauty
Amcor, AmPrima Recycle Ready 150ml Refill Pouch
Amcor's AmPrima Recycle Ready 150ml Refill Pouch shows how a refill format can meet premium expectations while cutting material use substantially. Designed for prestige beauty products, the pouch pairs heat-resistant, recycle-ready film with the barrier protection that sensitive skincare formulations require.
For packaging professionals and students, the entry underscores the role material science plays in advancing refill systems. The pouch runs on existing manufacturing processes, withstands high-temperature filling and carries a premium matte finish suited to luxury brand standards. Its flexible structure also lets consumers refill containers they already own while evacuating nearly all of the product inside.
Because a single refill pouch takes the place of multiple rigid containers, the design sharply reduces plastic use and eases transportation and storage demands. It is a compelling example of engineering, manufacturing compatibility and premium aesthetics working together to support the growing move toward refill-based packaging in the health and beauty market.
Colgate Palmolive, The Sculpted Swirl: A Custom-Engineered Shaped Orifice Cap for hello Whipped Toothpaste
Colgate Palmolive's The Sculpted Swirl: A Custom-Engineered Shaped Orifice Cap for new hello Whipped Toothpaste shows how even a small component can reshape the consumer experience. Built specifically for whipped toothpaste, the custom-engineered dispensing cap produces a distinctive swirl while helping preserve product quality across the life of the tube.
For packaging professionals and students, the entry demonstrates the value of iterative development. More than 50 rounds of prototyping, CAD modeling, 3D printing, and consumer testing refined the cap geometry to balance visual appeal, dispensing performance and durability. The angled orifice also helps pull residual product back into the tube, reducing clogging and dry out.
Because the design fits within the footprint of an existing cap, it avoided costly manufacturing changes while giving the brand a recognizable visual signature. Together with its mono-material, recyclable construction, the package illustrates how structural engineering, consumer insight, and manufacturing efficiency can elevate an everyday format.
VIVA, Carpe Underarm+ Soothing Antiperspirant Deodorant Stick: A Premium Sweat-Care Package
VIVA's Carpe Underarm+ Soothing Antiperspirant Deodorant Stick: A Premium Sweat Care Package shows how package engineering and vertical integration can produce a premium consumer experience while improving operational efficiency. Designed, molded, decorated, and assembled entirely in-house, the package pairs advanced manufacturing with deliberate structural design.
For packaging professionals and students, the entry points to the advantages of consolidating manufacturing, decoration and assembly under one roof. Mono-material polypropylene construction, including the in-mold label, simplifies the package structure while supporting recyclability and long-term durability. A custom top screen and textured matte finish improve application and give consumers a distinctive tactile experience.
Seamless 360-degree graphics reinforce the brand's premium positioning, and the streamlined production process strengthens quality control and supply chain efficiency. The result illustrates how material selection, manufacturing strategy, and consumer-focused design can converge in a high-performing personal care package.
Medical Device
Medtronic, Liberant Thrombectomy Kit Sterile Barrier Packaging System
Medtronic's Liberant Thrombectomy Kit Sterile Barrier Packaging System takes on one of healthcare packaging's toughest problems: gaining efficiency without giving up sterility or product protection. The universal platform handles multiple thrombectomy kit configurations within a single standardized design, cutting packaging complexity while supporting faster clinical workflows.
For packaging professionals and students, the entry underscores the role packaging plays in patient care. A foldable retainer lets clinicians reach components through a controlled partial opening, helping preserve the sterile field while trimming setup time in fast-paced catheterization labs. Engineered locating features hold components in position for consistent aseptic presentation.
Outside the clinical setting, the universal architecture reduces packaging formats, manufacturing changeovers, inventory complexity and transportation volume. By pairing user-centered design with validated sterile barrier performance and measurable sustainability gains, the system reflects where medical device packaging is heading, with usability, operational efficiency, and patient safety carrying equal weight.
Prent Corporation, Zimmer Biomet G7 TM Packaging
Prent Corporation's Zimmer Biomet G7 TM Packaging advances sterile barrier packaging for orthopedic implants by pairing high-performance protection with greater efficiency in both manufacturing and clinical use. PETG and TPU components securely encapsulate abrasive-coated implants, protecting the device and the sterile barrier through distribution.
For packaging professionals and students, the entry shows how material selection and universal design can resolve complex packaging problems. A flexible TPU retainer accommodates multiple implant sizes within one standardized package, reducing components, tooling and inventory while simplifying assembly. The design also supports intuitive aseptic presentation, letting clinicians remove implants without direct contact.
Beyond the operating room, the packaging reduces tray and carton volume, eliminates foam and polybags, and improves transportation efficiency. The solution reflects the rising importance of medical device packaging that balances patient safety, manufacturing efficiency, sustainability, and ease of use without compromising product protection.
Sustainable
Plastic Ingenuity, PET Medical Device Reel for a Healthcare Contract Manufacturer
Plastic Ingenuity's PET Medical Device Reel for a Healthcare Contract Manufacturer rethinks a long-standing medical manufacturing component, swapping a welded PVC reel for a recyclable PET design that assembles through a precision interlocking mechanism. The redesign holds the performance needed to handle sensitive medical devices while removing welding equipment from the process.
For packaging professionals and students, the entry shows how deliberate engineering can improve manufacturing efficiency and sustainability at once. The large thermoformed PET reel ships as stackable halves, cutting transportation space, simplifying assembly and eliminating the energy required for welding. It also delivers the structural integrity demanding healthcare production environments require.
Replacing PVC with recyclable PET in a high-volume application substantially reduces environmental impact while preserving manufacturing performance.
The solution reflects the expanding role of sustainable materials and smart structural design in healthcare packaging, demonstrating that environmental progress and operational efficiency can move forward together.
The complete list of award recipients can be found on Packaging World.
