In this episode of the updated Over The Counter podcast, HBW Insight speaks to sustainable packaging expert Tony Perrotta about the complexities of replacing plastic pill packs in medicines packaging. Perrotta is a partner at PA Consulting, which set up the Blister Pack Collective alongside consumer health players Haleon, Bayer and Sanofi. They are working with PulPac, which has invented a dry molded fiber alternative to plastic, which the Collective hopes to commercialize within 12-24 months. We discuss whether regulators will accept such alternatives, given the safety and stability requirements for medicines, and the challenges of recycling, given the multitude of different frameworks and processes across the world. Perrotta also reveals that one of the partners in PA Consulting’s Bottle Collective, which hopes to replace plastic bottles in the food, personal care and consumer health industries, will soon launch its first market trial.
Sanofi Joins Push For Plastic-Free Blister Packs
There’s ‘No Silver Bullet’ For Making Medicines Packaging Sustainable
EU Parliament Stricter Than Council On Medicines And Medical Devices Packaging
Unilever Adjusts Sustainable Plastic Goals As Industry Aspirations Meet Systemic Realities
Infographic: EU Sustainability Legislation All In One Place
What You Need To Know About The EU Green Claims Directive, With PHD’s Jo Stephenson
At the second attempt, New Zealand’s Medicines Classification Committee supported the Rx-to-OTC switch of allopurinol (100mg and 300mg) for people suffering from gout by specifically trained pharmacists.
Stada launches nine new Oilatum products in Saudi Arabia including “rich moisturising creams for intense hydration, gentle body washes for daily cleansing, and baby-specific products like soothing bath bubbles and head-to-toe wash.”
Bayer Consumer Health, the Global Self-Care Federation and the Business Council for International Understanding outline in a paper how industry can work with multilateral organizations, governments, financial institutions, and stakeholders to "recognize and champion self-care as a fundamental driver of global health progress."
PAGB CEO Michelle Riddalls and ISF president emeritus David Webber have been awarded OBEs for their services to consumer health and self-care.
An application for melatonin as an OTC medicine is on the agenda for the next German switch committee meeting, despite the hormone being widely available in food supplements. Acyclovir as a buccal tablet and second-generation antihistamine rupatadine are also up for discussion.
HBW Insight catches up with UK OTC industry association CEO Michelle Riddalls to talk about digital self-care and the unrealized promise of Brexit - part 2.
Engaging with EU member state legislators, stressing the impact of national EPR systems on the accessibility, availability, and affordability of medicines, reformulating products to reduce their financial contribution, and lobbying for expanding the scope of EPR schemes to include other polluting industries are all ways that the European consumer health industry can try and influence the way that the revised Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive is transposed into national legislation, law firm Mason Hayes & Curran explains.
