Pharmaceutical packaging: Eisai Machinery U.S.A. Inc. and Crest Solutions Launch New Track and Trace Packaging System

Eisai Machinery U.S.A. Inc. of Allendale, New Jersey, one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical equipment manufacturers, and Crest Solutions of Cork, Ireland, a software and solution provider to both the medical device and pharmaceutical industries, today announced the launch of PharmaMarker™, a new track and trace packaging system for pharmaceutical products. The PharmaMarker system was developed to help pharmaceutical manufacturers meet the challenges of more stringent local and international regulations in the areas of coding and traceability of pharmaceutical products.

With many countries and states introducing their own regulations to help ensure a more secure supply chain management system in the area of pharmaceutical production and delivery to end-users, and other regions poised to follow shortly, it is more challenging than ever for the pharmaceutical industry to ensure it is addressing new coding and traceability regulations as well as prepared to handle future regulations. The PharmaMarker system has been developed to meet these challenges by coding, verifying and tracking up to 450 pharmaceutical cartons per minute, ensuring they can be fully traced along any point in their production lifecycle.

The PharmaMarker system integrates easily into a production line either as a stand-alone product or as a component of an integrated packaging line. The PharmaMarker system marks the product cartons with a data matrix code which it then verifies to determine the pass or fail path that the carton then follows along the production line. Cartons that pass the verification station have their code details commissioned on Crest Solutions Protrack™ traceability software database, which can be shared with regulatory or ERP environments, such as SAP.

“The PharmaMarker is an easy-to-integrate, easy-to-validate solution for tracking and tracing pharmaceutical products, thus enabling manufacturers to immediately comply with ongoing regulations while also improving patient safety, counteracting fraud and creating a more secure supply chain,” said Michael de la Montaigne, President of Eisai Machinery U.S.A. Inc. “The combination of our resources and expertise in Vision and machine building with our partner Crest Solutions’ intuitive software has helped make the PharmaMarker system an industry-leading solution.”

Crest Solutions has been at the forefront in solving packaging management problems for pharmaceutical manufacturers for the last 12 years and is well positioned to understand the industry’s requirements. “The experience that we have gained from our extensive customer deployments and our collaboration with Eisai Machinery enabled us to develop the right product for the market,” said Frank Madden, CEO of Crest Solutions Ltd. “Not only is this system capable of handling new track and trace regulations coming into place now but also those expected in the future. The cost to the pharmaceutical industry and to patient safety is too great to be ignored. There is significant market potential for this product as companies need to comply with new regulations. We are very pleased with the interest shown already and expect to sign up a new customer shortly.”

In addition to Crest Solutions’ line management and traceability software and the machine manufacturing expertise of Eisai Machinery U.S.A. Inc., the PharmaMarker solution combines the high-resolution, in-sight vision system technology of Cognex and the industry’s leading coding and printing technologies of Domino’s G-Series thermal ink jet printer to create a best-in-class solution for the pharmaceutical industry.

“Eisai Machinery U.S.A.’s PharmaMarker uses our High Resolution In-Sight® vision system, which is the preferred platform for pharmaceutical applications due to its compact form factor and ease-of-integration,” said Kris Bierbaum, Manager of Strategic Alliances for Cognex Corporation. “In-Sight® reliably reads, grades, and verifies printed data with unmatched and repeatable performance. Crest Solutions is a key Partner System Integrator (PSI) in our long-term strategy to address the pharmaceutical industry. The joint collaboration and expertise of Eisai, Crest and Cognex makes PharmaMarker the ideal solution for companies that want a reliable and adaptable solution to meet regulatory changes without reducing existing production line parameters.”

“We were very pleased that Domino was selected to supply coding devices for this solution,” said Craig Stobie, Global Healthcare Manager at Domino. “The number of emerging regulatory schemes for the coding, marking and labeling of healthcare packaging is one of the most significant challenges facing the pharmaceutical sector. Integrating seamlessly with Domino’s technologies for the healthcare sector – which include the G-Series thermal ink jet and D-Series laser coding ranges – PharmaMarker is a highly proficient solution that addresses both immediate and longer-term market requirements.”

PharmaMarker works by printing cartons with a data matrix code using a non-contact thermal ink jet or laser print head. Cartons are then conveyed past a Cognex high-resolution vision system to precisely verify label data and ensure that only correct cartons pass to the next point in the production line while failed cartons are removed using its automatic reject system. The system employs Crest Solutions’ LineDirector™ software to manage all the peripherals on the line and Crest Solutions’ Protrack™ real-time traceability software is used to accurately record event data for complete compliance with track and trace regulations.

Eisai Machinery U.S.A. Inc. and Crest Solutions are currently in discussion with several companies to roll out the product globally. The PharmaMarker is available for demonstration and trials at Eisai Machinery USA’s headquarters in Allendale, NJ, and also at Crest Solutions in Cork, Ireland. For more detailed product information, please visit www.eisaiusa.com and www.crestsolutions.ie.

SOURCE: Eisai Machinery U.S.A. Inc.; Crest Solutions

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