It’s not surprising that the current pandemic environment is impacting the way clinical trials are conducted. From the beginning, many adjustments needed to be made to ensure patient safety and the integrity of the data collected. Supply chains have become strained, affecting many aspects of clinical trial processes, including AWT Healthcare’s corner of the clinical trial universe – packaging and labels.
Increased Demand
Developing the formulations needed to respond to the pandemic has spurred increased demand for packaging and packaging components like labels. Much of the increased demand is for traditional approved packaging constructions, but a significant portion is for new packaging configurations which can be used in new, safer delivery methods necessitated by the pandemic. A study and report by Transparency Market Research1 cites an increase in the sheer number of clinical trials that have been undertaken since the beginning of the pandemic as a reason for the growth in demand.
Trends
The challenges posed by the pandemic have driven innovation, and exciting developments are taking place in the packaging and labeling space. For instance, the report details the efforts of materials suppliers to develop solutions for packaging which inhibit the transmission of viruses and other surface-borne transmissible threats.
Another area of innovation is the delivery of information on packaging. Multi-page booklet labels have been a staple of clinical trial packaging for some time now and provide a way for manufacturers to include large amounts of required information in a relatively small space. Thinner base and content materials as well as advances in automated folding technology are also hitting the market, meaning even smaller package footprints for these extended content devices.
And as we have mentioned in previous posts, decentralized and direct-to-patient trial models have impacted package and label design significantly, and the resulting innovations will benefit both trial participants as well as manufacturers.
The experts at AWT Healthcare are ready to help you with your clinical trial label needs. Please contact us with any questions you have, or to inquire about a specific label solution.