Denny Bros pharmaceutical open day highlights the need for clearer and more accurate labelling

Denny Bros — manufacturers of the multipage Fix-a-Form label, recently welcomed delegates from the pharmaceutical arena to examine the packaging and labelling challenges now facing the healthcare sector.

Led by keynote speaker, BBC TV's Dr Rosemary Leonard, the day included a mix of presentations, machine demonstrations and tour of the key areas of Denny Bros' Pharmaceutically accredited facility.

Talking from a GP perspective, Dr Leonard, highlighted the critical role that packaging and labelling played in delivering clear messages on drugs — especially where the elderly and those taking multiple medicines are concerned. Multiple brand names for the same generic drug can cause much confusion. 

Omar Ali, an educational consultant to the NHS, expanded on this subject further and emphasised the extent of the needless fatalities and injuries sustained as a result of poorly designed and branded labels. With colour coding and drug types clearly displayed, the statistics could be greatly reduced.

Supporting speakers included Jim Kaye from Atlantic Zeiser who discussed serialisation and product coding. Denny Bros' recently invested in this technology by purchasing a machine, which they have titled Validata.  

Validata is capable of adding characters, barcodes, 2D codes, graphics and even doctors’ signatures in variable, sequential and alphanumeric formats to its Fix-a-Form multipage labels. Paul Beamish, from linerless labelling specialist Ravenwood Packaging, explained the ‘green’ advantages of labels with no backing paper. With zero waste, the labels simplify the supply chain, so saving on cost. Denny Bros and Ravenwood plan to develop a new labelling concept for multilayer linerless labels.

Stephen Jarrold, sales and marketing director at Denny Bros, completed the line-up of speakers with his presentation: ‘A Cure for the Information Headache'.  Stephen highlighted how Fix-a-Form can offer a solution, in particular the problems and issues raised by Dr Leonard and Omar Ali. The mechanics of Fix-a-Form are well suited to relaying vital product descriptions and dosage instructions to end-users, offering peace of mind to GPs and healthcare professionals.

Commenting on the event, Stephen Jarrold said: "The day was a great success and the feedback we have received regarding our speakers has been fantastic. Overall it has been an education and one that we hope our delegates have learnt from considerably. It was also beneficial to be able to demonstrate the different types of technology we can provide in assisting with the compliance of pharmaceutical labelling, particularly our new Validata machine."