Pharmaceutical Label Compliance: What you need to know

If you are in the pharmaceutical industry then you understand the importance of pharmaceutical label compliance. This is the second article in our series on labeling for the pharmaceutical industry. If you are curious, check out our previous article — Industry Insights: Pharmaceutical Labels. 

High Level Considerations for the Pharmaceutical Industry

There are a lot of things to consider and in our 30 years of labeling experience we are sure we have dealt with most of them.

We will not be discussing the actual label content such as warnings, instructions, ingredients, etc. that this industry requires. Instead, we are focusing on the required functionality of pharmaceutical labels, the types of containers used, and the different environments pharmaceutical labels are used in. You need them to be reliable, stand the test of time, and endure the elements.

We address the following list of high level things to consider:

1. Clean Room Products
2. Cold Temperature Labels
3. RFID Tags that Can Be Sterilized
4. Controlling the Cost of Scrubs
5. Expanded Data
6. Variable Data

Clean Room Product Labels

Does your company require cleanroom product labels?

We are seeing a growing interest in what we call “cleanroom type” labels. They are popular because they keep the dust particles down in environments that require a high level of cleanliness. Pharmaceutical label compliance often requires this.

If you like technical stuff, these labels achieve clean rooms status with a film product (polypro) and a plastic label core.

PaladinID is one of the few suppliers of cleanroom product labels who understand what a total cleanroom solution is.

Cold Temperature Labels

Often times, pharmaceutical label compliance requires cold temperatures. If you are having trouble maintaining the integrity of  these labels in your freezer environment than generic cryogenic adhesive may be the perfect solution.

Tests show it works very well below -80 degrees Celsius!  The best news is that our generic option costs about 60% less than your standard cryogenic adhesive.

You did not misread that.

This is a game changer in the biotech and pharma industries.

Our Generic Cryogenic Adhesive costs 60% less!

We are very excited about this new product offering and we know you will be too.  Here are some more great things about it:

• Our Generic Cryogenic Adhesives come in two face sheets, white gloss and white matte.
• Can come in a pre-printed label
• You can print variable data through a thermal transfer printer (we recommend using one our resin ribbons for best results.)
•  You can use an automatic label applicator.  These labels are designed for high-speed auto-apply systems.
• Now available as a stock product.  Shipping is fast and easy.
• Oh, did we mention they are 60% less than the standard ones?

Don’t accidentally interchanged these terms.
They are not the same thing.
Application range =  the temperature at which the product is labeled.
Service range = the temperatures the product is stored at (or will encounter throughout the lifespan of the product).

Send us an Email or give us a call at 888.972.5234 and we will send you samples you can test in your own environment.

RFID Tags that Can Be Sterilized

What if…

What if you could attach or embed a tag or label to every single asset you had that would track everything about the item from creation until you were no longer responsible for it?

What if that same tag or label could withstand sterilization and rugged conditions?

Imagine if…

Imagine tossing all the pens and clipboards.

Imagine reducing the number of times your assets where handled by humans, reducing the chance for contamination.

Imagine the success of your production and inventory tracking.

Tego, the leading innovator and pioneer in the creation and deployment of intelligent assets, has created the world’s only sterilization-proof ultra-high frequency (UHF) Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) chip.

Tego’s products can withstand Gamma sterilization,  eBeam sterilization,  Ethylene oxide sterilization, and Cold storage (-80C).

But it gets even better. Check out more here. 

Controlling the Cost of Scrubs

RFID technology can be used for inventory. Healthcare costs may keep going up, but thanks to RFID, hospitals are spending less on scrubs. One success story is LewisGale Medical Center in Salem, Virginia. The hospital managed to save $40,000 on scrubs in under two years, according to RFID Journal. It’s all thanks to the CabiNet RFID Scrub Dispenser, a device that distributes and monitors the medical-procedure uniforms. The system reduces the tendency of staff to treat scrubs as disposable, making sure the garments are returned for cleaning following each shift.

Expanded Data for Pharmaceutical Label Compliance

Putting more information on small labels can be a serious challenge.  pharmaceutical label compliance is forcing us to change the way that we provide printed information to consumers. And we don’t need to tell you how important it is to provide ALL the necessary information in order to be compliant.

By doubling, tripling and sometimes quadrupling the print area of your labels, pharmaceutical companies and can make it easy for consumers to find information ABOUT the product, ON the product.

See our helpful guide to expanded content labels.

The answer is expanded content print solutions such as:

• hinged booklet labels
• multi layer labels
• fold-out labels
• reseal labels
• 2-ply labels

At PaladinID, we make the labels in two parts that are hinged on one side.  You can peel back the top layer like a book, which gives you virtually an unlimited area of label footprint.  The labels can include both static information and variable print on the front side. This makes adhering to pharmaceutical label compliance easy!

Variable Data

Variable data is also called sequential printing or service bureau work. Regardless of what you call it, it means when your application needs a label that is unique with text and bar codes. The information on the label changes regularly so you can’t use a pre-printed standard label.

No matter what industry you are in, we have the label material and the know-how to get the job right the first time. Below are some areas with which we have helped companies solve their problems using variable imaging:

• Inventory
• Shelving
• Work in process (WIP)
• Shipping
• Warehousing
• Prescription processing
• Manufacturing and Retailing

This is such a big part of what we do because so many pharmaceutical companies require this level of label service.

Visit our Variable Data page for more information, including a video that shows solutions for variable data imaging. Once companies understand what is possible, the applications are endless!

The Wrap Up

We have given you a lot to think about for upgrading your current pharmaceutical label compliance scenario with better products that could save you time and money.

We are always looking for ways to help our clients, so we’d love to hear about your solutions and the label products you are using in the comments.

For samples of the products mentioned in this article or to inquire about pricing please call us 888-972-5234 today!

Stay tuned for our next article: Common Labeling Problems in the pharmaceutical Industry.

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Please give us a call at 888.972.5234 or send us an email, we are here to help.