The pharmaceutical packaging and drug delivery industries are coming under ever increasing scrutiny when it comes to making their packaging production processes sustainable.

Bio-based and recyclable plastic materials offer tremendous opportunities for packaging and devices companies, although their use has to be balanced against regulatory requirements as well as the needs of original equipment manufacturers.

In this interview with Jean Jacques Legat, Projects and Innovation Director, Polymeris, and Manon Guyader, Innovation Health Project Manager, Polymeris, we discuss the various initiatives the business cluster is launching to address these vital issues.

Healthcare provision is constantly evolving. Whereas in the past decision making on treatments for patients was very much the domain of physicians and doctors, patients now feel more empowered to be involved in the decision making process. The healthcare industry is fully aware of this change and sees a constructive partnership and dialogue with patients as the best way of achieving better health outcomes.

In this podcast, we discuss with Nicholas Brooke, founder and executive director of The Synergist and founder of Patient Focused Medicines Development how the concept of patient engagement has developed and what tools are becoming available for meaningful patient engagement in the drug and medical devices development process.

The current pandemic has taught us that now more than ever, stay-at-home solutions are crucial for the ongoing provision of healthcare, particularly to elderly and more vulnerable patients suffering from multiple chronic diseases.

Thus, the onus has fallen on companies in the pharmaceutical packaging/drug delivery world to address the adherence challenges that arise from this shift to the home setting. Senior patients tend to have difficulty in using devices such as injectors, patches, eye droppers and inhalers, in terms of the challenging preparatory, administration and disposal steps required.

In the third Pharmapack podcast of this series, in partnership with Lund University in Sweden, and discussing with academic and industry experts, we will explore not only how companies should approach the design of senior-friendly self-administered drug devices by putting the patient and their physical and cognitive limitations at the heart of their programmes, but also how they can keep older patients involved and engaged at every phase of the development process.