Search

A potential material change for a pharmaceutical blister pack required costly and time-consuming re-validation. One of the major issues associated with this is the water vapour barrier of a formed blister needed to guarantee an acceptable shelf life of the packaged drugs. This study considered a non-isothermal FEM analysis of the forming process, using the new model incorporated into the POLYFLOW simulation software, and taking into account plug assist forming. This was validated on current materials before being used for the new material. A new post processor was used to calculate the moisture barrier of each blister, and to evaluate the potential benefit of using a new material for medical packaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of the inconvenience and longer time required to punch out the tablets, strip packaging may reduce the number of tablets that can be readily swallowed by adults with self-poisonings. In fact, hospital-based studies of paracetamol poisoning in the U.K. and Hong Kong have shown that blister packs were associated with fewer tablets being ingested and large overdoses were mostly from loose preparations. In Australia, following the change in packaging for carbamazepine from bottles of tablets to blister packs, a marked decrease in the reported number of tablets ingested by patients was seen. Reducing the maximum number of tablets that can be available in individual preparations or prescriptions may also reduce the likelihood of severe poisonings. In France, but not in the UK, the content of each pack of paracetamol has been legally limited to 8 g. This was thought to be one reason why severe liver damage and deaths after paracetamol poisonings are less common in France than in the UK. Medicated oils containing methyl salicylate pose the threat of rapid-onset, severe salicylate poisoning if swallowed. To reduce the amount of methyl salicylate that can be readily swallowed, the methyl salicylate content and the size of the bottle and its opening should be restricted. In adults with Dettol poisoning, serious complications such as pulmonary aspiration are more likely if a large amount is ingested. Similarly, the risk may be reduced by restricting the size of bottle and its opening. Human & Experimental Toxicology (2000) 19, 387–391. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]