For all of the products traded on the ‘Black Market’, pharmaceuticals are the most dangerous, most profitable to the dealers and also most prolific. These counterfeit goods are now regularly bought through on-line trading and it has been reported that up-to 30% of the drugs in the world are now counterfeit and that these even make their way into hospitals and pharmacy distribution channels.
With the impeding legislation for pharmaceutical companies to be compliant with late stage serialisation, it is imperative that the printed carton supplier is both PS9000 compliant and diligent on all aspects of the pharmaceutical code of practice. It is critical that they support the drug manufacturer by ensuring that each and every carton is consistent in colour, board quality, printed with full traceability and that all waste is processed through an audited destruction chain.
Cutting corners with your board supplier and utilising low cost material can have a very damaging effect with the repercussions effecting the finished look of your packaging. Two cartons for the same drug printed at different times, standing side by side on a pharmacist shelf with varying shades of colour are not only damaging to the brand but also consumer confidence as counterfeit questions are then raised. It is also important that your carton board comes from a sustainable accredited source where the mill manages its forests and adheres to FSC or PEFC rules. Purchasing material from a non-ethical source could result in you contributing unwittingly to environmental problems.
Carton manufacturer Reelvision print prides itself on operating to the highest level of colour consistency which is achieved by following simple compliance steps. Uniformity is fulfilled by only stocking grades of material from an approved regulated source, printing to a ‘recipe’ and ensuring that this same ‘recipe’ is always coupled with the correct Analox specification. Time after time the colour match is not just close it’s absolutely perfect, removing any doubt that your product is counterfeit. Reelvision does not ask its customers to accept a light or dark tolerance, Reelvision will only match the first agreed colour target and repeat this process every time.
Whilst digital printing has established its place in the bespoke one off printing forum, ideal for markets such as personalised greeting cards, one off promotional packs or even fast food wrappers where time on shelf is limited to short expiry dates. However the digital process has yet to make its mark with products that have extended shelf life, are targets for counterfeit and are regularly reordered. This is primarily due to questionable stability standards of digital printing and that the full spectrum of colour cannot be achieved without compromise. Reelvision offers a true alternative source for short run production, competing commercially with digital whilst ensuring that the customer does not have to compromise on colour. The Reelvision business is structured to enable run lengths even as low as just 17 cartons to be produced economically with true compliance to strict pharma GMP’s.
The performance of Reelvision can be measured through its cost of quality data recorded at a year to date figure of less than £200.00 which equates to just 0.2% of turnover. This market leading figure can be attributed to very tight adherence to the ISO 9001:2015 quality management system that incorporates PS9000:2011.
The moral of the story is don’t compromise on quality and colour constancy when Reelvision Print will offer both for even the lowest volume print runs.