In 2020 the Healthcare Compliance Packaging Council celebrates its 30th anniversary. In that time, HCPC has witnessed dramatic changes in the pharmaceutical market, and our mission has evolved to meet the changing landscape of the healthcare industry.

While we wait for the FDA to compile and review the responses to its request for comments on Fixed Quantity Unit of Use Blisters Packaging, Docket No. FDA-2019-N-1845 in response to the SUPPORT Act of 2018, we want to take the safer packaging of opioids conversation a bit further.

Blister Packaging for Certain Immediate Release Opioid Analgesics for Treatment of Acute Pain – Docket No. FDA-2019-N-1845 as it relates to opioid packaging, and recently passed Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients (SUPPORT) Act, passed in late 2018.

At this point in 2019 it is impossible not to give some well-deserved attention to the departure of Dr. Scott Gottlieb from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Anyone associated with pharmaceuticals or packaging was surprised at the announcement.

The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) is putting a full court press on the opioid crisis, and unit-dose packaging looks to be part of the team.

As 2017 heads toward the final quarter and the time intended for the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) to implement step 1, i.e., all pharma manufacturers distributing only serialized primary containers into the supply chain, we’ve learned a few things.