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Roche engineer to highlight patient centricity in pharma packaging

Tiffany McIntire, principal human factors engineer at Roche, to take topic centre stage at Connect in Pharma conference in Geneva (14-15 September), and highlight opportunities for the pharma sector to reinvent packaging with a key focus on patient needs.

Key highlights:

Connect in Pharma launches this year and is aiming to become Europe’s leading event driving innovation in pharmaceutical packaging, drug delivery and manufacturing.

Its first edition in September will bring together 100 suppliers of innovative packaging, medical devices, CMO/CDMO services and processing technology with more than 3,000 buyers, packaging designers, product and device developers and manufacturing directors in the pharma and biotech industry.

In advance of the exhibition, McIntire spoke to organisers about the importance of putting patients at the heart of innovation in biopharmaceutical drug development.

While the packaging of medication has been traditionally focused on compliance and historical practice, more and more consideration is being given to how, when, and why patients use and interact with medications.

Medications taken orally are ripe for reconsideration

In the US, pills are likely to come in a bottle while the European market tends to produce blister packs. According to McIntire, these types of products, which reflect historical assumptions about what patients want, are ripe for a rethink.

“Orally-administered products are an under-developed area that can benefit from a systematic approach,” McIntire says. “We make mistakes when we make assumptions about what a patient needs or wants. We make the mistake of thinking patients act like us. But user-based testing can generate insights that can fast track research by years.”

In her Connect in Pharma talk, entitled “Developing patient-centric packaging solutions", McIntire plans to discuss best practice within the sector, gaps in the market, and some quick ways drug developers and contract manufacturers can be sure to avoid pitfalls when bringing biopharmaceutical drugs to market.

McIntire brings a wealth of regulatory and scientific experience to her Connect in Pharma presentation. She has been in the pharmaceutical industry for eight years developing medical devices end to end, primarily in the combination product space. She has worked in all phases of development and excels at strategising organisational development, platforms, and pipelines.

The organisers of Connect in Pharma say McIntire was asked to give a plenary talk because she provides a fresh perspective on packaging design.

“Patient-centred design and human factors engineering is a topic that will only become more important, and it’s a topic that will help attendees think about the pharmaceutical Europe of tomorrow. Alongside a range of other key topics around packaging and device development and production, Tiffany’s talk will be part of a fantastic package of content that will really help drive innovation decisions across the pharma market,” says Josh Brooks, marketing & community director of packaging at Easyfairs, the events company behind Connect in Pharma and Europe’s network of events for the packaging supply chain.

Organised across four half-days, the plenary talks will address key themes related to the four main areas of the supply chain present in the exhibition area: pharmaceutical packaging (primary and secondary), medical devices, pharmaceutical sub-contracting and production line equipment.

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