“If you remember last year, it was dead,” said one Healthcare Packaging customer. “We are seeing a slow but steady climb in interest, now we need to get sales.”
One exhibitor mentioned hearing that Interphex had dispatched buses to Philadelphia to pick up would be attendees. Not sure this is true, but the aisles were pleasantly packed for much of the day.
By far, the recurring theme was a renewed interest in serving the clinical trial business segment. This includes materials and service providers directing more marketing to this segment, all the way to OEMs introducing smaller footprint machines with lower throughout (like the new Labby from MG America, designed to fill capsules for labs and clinical trials.)
The lack of a true blockbuster drug coming down the pipeline, coupled with the death of the physician sample, means suppliers from contract packagers, blister packaging, leaflets, labels and machinery are turning to the clinical trial segment—once thought maybe to small or complex to cater to.
Education remains a focus, with some exhibitors a little frustrated at the lack of Big Pharma support for their employees to secure travel budgets to attend shows and seminars.
One exhibitor told us that a pharma company packaging employee shared this tidbit; his travel budget for the year is $600!
Some could not come to Inteprhex because they would need to take a day off to do it. “This industry needs help,” said one sales manager.
CCL Label is answering the call with a Label University scheduled for September 23, 2010 in Princeton, NJ. The free event promises a day of education for purchasing agents, packaging engineers, marketing managers and supply chain managers. R.S.V.P. at [email protected].
Healthcare Packaging's own Conference and Workshops are also in Princeton, but earlier in the year—May 27. A half day of guest speakers from Pfizer and Watson is followed by an afternoon of break out workshops catering to cold chain, digital printing, robots, package testing, etc.
The growth of biologics certainly has spurred the growth of cold chain products like Cortegra's, RFID Temperature Data Card. Monitoring temperature variations of plus or minus one degree for temps ranging from -15 to 50 degrees F for up to two years, the card provides a validated history of intervals between 2 seconds and nine hours! The reusable, flexible sensors feature a self-adhesive on reverse side and can be printed with any branding information required, and even offer a tamper-evident option.
One exhibitor mentioned hearing that Interphex had dispatched buses to Philadelphia to pick up would be attendees. Not sure this is true, but the aisles were pleasantly packed for much of the day.
By far, the recurring theme was a renewed interest in serving the clinical trial business segment. This includes materials and service providers directing more marketing to this segment, all the way to OEMs introducing smaller footprint machines with lower throughout (like the new Labby from MG America, designed to fill capsules for labs and clinical trials.)
The lack of a true blockbuster drug coming down the pipeline, coupled with the death of the physician sample, means suppliers from contract packagers, blister packaging, leaflets, labels and machinery are turning to the clinical trial segment—once thought maybe to small or complex to cater to.
Education remains a focus, with some exhibitors a little frustrated at the lack of Big Pharma support for their employees to secure travel budgets to attend shows and seminars.
One exhibitor told us that a pharma company packaging employee shared this tidbit; his travel budget for the year is $600!
Some could not come to Inteprhex because they would need to take a day off to do it. “This industry needs help,” said one sales manager.
CCL Label is answering the call with a Label University scheduled for September 23, 2010 in Princeton, NJ. The free event promises a day of education for purchasing agents, packaging engineers, marketing managers and supply chain managers. R.S.V.P. at [email protected].
Healthcare Packaging's own Conference and Workshops are also in Princeton, but earlier in the year—May 27. A half day of guest speakers from Pfizer and Watson is followed by an afternoon of break out workshops catering to cold chain, digital printing, robots, package testing, etc.
The growth of biologics certainly has spurred the growth of cold chain products like Cortegra's, RFID Temperature Data Card. Monitoring temperature variations of plus or minus one degree for temps ranging from -15 to 50 degrees F for up to two years, the card provides a validated history of intervals between 2 seconds and nine hours! The reusable, flexible sensors feature a self-adhesive on reverse side and can be printed with any branding information required, and even offer a tamper-evident option.
