Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/883179
Tablets & Capsules October 2017 37 Drug interaction warnings. Today, warnings about how drug products can interact are provided in lengthy, very fine print on inserts and pharmacists' printouts. The few people who actually read them probably find them difficult to comprehend. With a smart phone, patients Using data matrix codes, it will be possible to authenticate single tablets and capsules. The codes also enable manufacturers to pro- vide patients, pharmacists, and others complete information about the manufacturer and the expiration date. It may even be possible to uniquely identify each tablet and capsule. could simply scan tablets and capsules to verify their identity and then get data from an online database about potentially dangerous combinations. If a patient's regimen information has been uploaded to a database, it would be possible for him or her to scan codes on an OTC package before purchase to ensure the product won't have harmful interactions with the patient's other medications. Serialization. Seen as the first step toward achieving traceability down to the last saleable unit, serialization of individual doses could be next. After all, if a tablet or cap- sule is dispensed from a bulk bottle at the pharmacy, isn't that SODF the last saleable unit? Using the digital, on- demand printing that TIJ offers, it may be possible to achieve that level of traceability. Doing so would require that the TIJ equipment 1) interface with software that could generate dynamic data matrix codes, 2) interact with the manufacturing site's IT platform, and 3) have the capability to verify each printed code. That would enable the TIJ equipment to print "bot- tle-level" codes onto tablets or capsules during packaging and aggregate them to the serialized bottle into which they're filled. So long as the products are authenticated along the way, the supply chain is protected, and there is traceability to production lots and expiration dates. T&C Edward S. Novit is business development manager at Freund- Vector, 675 44th Street, Marion, IA 52302. Tel. 319 377 8263. Website: www.freund-vector.com. Figure 1 Digital printing eliminates ambiguity a. This tablet is embossed with "463" on the front. The embossing on the reverse can be interpreted as "93" or "E6". b. If patients break the tablet at the score, the confusion grows because the "6" in "463" is obliterated. On the reverse, is that a "9" or a "6"? Is it a "3" or an "E"? c. Using digital thermal inkjet printing, "93" appears on either side of the score on the tablet's front, and "463" appears twice on the reverse to avoid guesswork. The printing is also easier to read than the embossing.