FDBusiness.com

At this year’s PPMA Show, Sunala, part of the Travtec Group, is demonstrating a comprehensive anti-counterfeiting solution for drug packaging that enables pharmaceutical companies to meet current and forthcoming European and global track and trace regulations.

Travtec’s market leading Pharmacarton Lite Coding Station is being shown operating with the TTM100™ software from track, trace and serialisation specialist Melior Solutions.  This combination ensures total control of cartons during the print and vision process for the accurate and high quality printing of a unique code for each pack.

TTM100™ is a complete serial number management system that is able to control the critical aspects of serial number generation and distribution, printer management and control, vision system control, code verification and registration, standard and custom report generation, and batch serial number transmission.

The system offers a flexible and simple to use means of creating a totally unique code for every pack, which can also include customer specific, confidential number generation algorithms.  A comprehensive verification process ensures that each code is correct and unique to ensure that products which successfully pass the final reject point are 100% fit for passage into the supply chain.

A variety of reporting options is available, including the reconciliation at the end of production of any products rejected or removed for sampling.  Reports detailing missing codes can be easily produced allowing safe decisions to be made regarding potential code re-use and providing exceptional batch record information.

The Pharmacarton, which can be adjusted to handle a wide range of pack sizes, is easily integrated into existing production lines to provide fast and accurate handling that ensures a high quality and fully readable code every time.

The machine combines a precision multi-belt conveyor with a synchronised top hold down belt and incorporates the Wolke m600 Advanced high resolution ink jet printer and an OCR/OCV optical character verification system.  A fail-to-safety reject unit with pack confirmation further guarantees the authenticity of each coded pack and helps to maintain line speeds.

The m600 is able to print in real time.  Data can be inputted from a remote server through the built–in Ethernet port. The user-friendly printer’s advanced HP technology and water-based inks deliver clean and maintenance-free coding onto a wide range of substrates, producing characters and bar codes up to 600 dpi.

The Pharmacarton/TTM100 combination in particular will allow pharmaceutical and medicine producers to comply with the European Parliament’s recently approved Falsified Medicines Directive, which is to be implemented by EU member states within around two years.  This requires pharmaceutical packaging to incorporate a serialised 2D Datamatrix code on individual packs.  Pharmacists can then verify whether a pack with that serial number has been dispensed before – allowing them to spot counterfeit medicines.

Melior Solutions was founded by Paul Mills, who was a consultant on the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Association’s (EFPIA) recent successful Swedish pack serialisation pilot and continues to work on the project.