Increasing legislation, the range of over-the-counter (OTC) products, and growing consumer awareness are placing demands on the format, performance, and image of OTC packaging. Those trends led Chesapeake Corp., a Richmond, VA-based supplier of paperboard and plastic packaging, to launch a design center/studio and product development group dedicated to helping pharmaceutical companies strengthen their brands through packaging.
Located in Nottingham, England, the design center offers packaging design, materials development, and analytical management services. While its current focus is on pharmaceutical packaging, Chesapeake is also looking into designing for medical device packaging.
Five full-time employees evaluate materials and printing processes for cartons, labels, leaflets, leaflet-labels, booklets, and combinations thereof. The studio features new offices, a new Esko-Graphics Kongsberg sample-making table, and the latest computer equipment to run 3-D simulations. September 10, 2005
A recent press clipping noted that about 78,000 children under five years old visited U.S. hospital emergency rooms due to unintentional poisonings in 2003. That's about one every seven minutes, reported the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
Most of these poisonings included products commonly found in the home, including over-the-counter pain relievers, cough and cold medicines, and iron-containing vitamins and supplements. CPSC, the National Poison Prevention Week Council, and the American Assn. of Poison Control Centers released the data in March.
Rose Ann Soloway, chair of the Poison Prevention Week Council, noted that when repackaged at home in non-child-resistant containers, medicines and potentially hazardous household products become even more accessible and dangerous for young children. July 10, 2005
