Pharmaceutical Packaging Forum ‘08 takes shape

Produced by Healthcare Packaging and Packaging World magazines, the event will be held on Wednesday, March 12, 2008, at The Rittenhouse Hotel in Philadelphia, the same venue that hosted the initial PPF March 29, 2007. Next year’s PPF will be preceded by a 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. early registration and a cocktail reception on March 11. The details below for PPF 2008 are as of Sept. 17, 2007, and are subject to change. For the most current information on the event, visit www.packworld.com/ppf.

• Packaging Innovation and Materials: Challenges and Opportunities for Pharmaceutical Packagers, by Edward J. Bauer, pharmaceutical packaging professional and former Bausch and Lomb director of global packaging.In the pharmaceutical arena, a risk-adverse culture and the use of “standard” materials contribute to continued cloning of existing packages for pharmaceutical, medical device, and nutritional products. Packaging Hall of Fame inductee Bauer will discuss these challenges and offer insights about where the next generation of packaging innovations may lie. This presentation will also examine blister-packaging materials and tamper-evident, child-resistant, and senior-friendly packaging considerations.

• Risk Examples for Packaging Equip-ment, by Jim John, JETT chairman.
This session will review the JETT Consort-ium’s working examples of risk analysis for primary and secondary packaging equipment, based on the Good Automated Manufacturing Practice approach. John, together with an end-user speaker, will provide an informative presentation that offers attendees an understanding of the GAMP approach to risk-based validation; access to a working example of finished documentation; a chance to review a risk assessment for a unit operation; and an understanding of JETT’s current developments that offer benefits for life sciences companies and OEMs.

• America’s Battle Against Tainted Medicine, by Katherine Eban, investigative reporter, author, and Rhodes Scholar. Author of the book, Dangerous Doses: A True Story of Cops, Counterfeiters and the Contamination of America’s Drug Supply, Eban updates attendees with information gleaned since the publication of the widely read work. In a dynamic presentation, Eban will share eye-opening stories about the current threat to the U.S. drug supply and what actions have been taken in terms of drug supply reforms since Dangerous Doses first exposed the “dark side of America’s pharmaceutical trade.”
Other planned subject areas for PPF 2008 include: RFID & authentication, an international packaging panel, overall equipment effectiveness, contract packaging, and package design considerations.