News February 23rd, 2023

Growing trends: Pharmapack 2023

A photo of four people around a white table

In early February, Paris hosted the annual Pharmapack 2023 conference; an event that welcomes the global pharmaceutical industry and houses some of the most innovative companies, products, and solutions. Our Human Factors team attended both days and share their insights on current trends within the sector.

Sustainability – collaboration is key to deliver user and environmental benefit.

Sustainability within the pharmaceutical industry is a very prominent reality. Reducing the cradle to grave impact of the drug product, delivery devices and packaging is a challenge that cannot be ignored. While sustainability is a fundamental area of focus, it was no surprise for our team to see that usability ultimately comes before sustainability for the end-user. However, the healthcare industry has a great potential to contribute to sustainability across the entire value chain, from production, to energy use, supply chain, recycling, and reuse of materials. Businesses must collaborate to ensure that their devices put the user’s needs first and at the same time consider their impact on the environment.

Digital and connectivity – growth will be driven by value.

Solutions that deliver value by offering both physical and digital touchpoints remain an area of great potential for stakeholders and patients alike. Technologies, such as RFID and NFC can support improvements in healthcare, including monitoring, supporting, and facilitating drug delivery for patients in a home environment. New technologies also present the opportunity to collect reliable data during clinical trials.

But connected devices can come with high upfront costs and lengthy timelines to commercialisation. By better understanding the balance between value and cost the industry can ensure benefit to both the patient and the pharma company, which will drive growth.

A man with brown hair working on an electronics device.

Autoinjectors – Supporting the transition to at-home delivery.

Autoinjectors continue to be a high growth market segment, with great potential beyond current 1.0mL and 2.25mL low volume solutions. Preference for home-based treatment drives the need for simple and smart autoinjectors, with an ability to deliver larger and more viscous volumes of drug product.

The current lack of commercial large volume wearable injectors within the market may be due to a variety of reasons, such as a lack of data to help drive development decisions through to cost implications for businesses. Equally overlooked are connected injection systems. However, connectivity of devices and continuous monitoring introduce new opportunities for patient behaviour interventions and adherence improvement. As the sector matures, Human Factors experts will play a key role, particularly to identify and deliver the types of studies that will ultimately provide the data that is needed for at-home device approvals.

Pharmapack autoinjectors

From our dedicated digital and electronics teams, to Ensera Design’s Sustainability Lab which is focused on delivering sustainability within the medical sector, our team are committed to helping you support your business needs. If you would like to continue the conversation, please do get in touch.

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