Collaborating to Launch a Sustainable Compliance Package

Ecoslide-RX contains no plastic and, unlike other paperboard compliance packs, requires a blister with minimal amount of film and foil.

Dec 2 2011 --- A strategic collaboration between contract packaging firm Legacy Pharmaceutical Co. and Keystone Folding Box Co. helped to create a virtual one-stop-shop for pharmaceutical companies interested in using Ecoslide-RX, a child-resistant (F=1), senior-friendly compliance package made from 100% recyclable material.

Ecoslide-RX uses a child-resistant locking mechanism that is opened with a thumb press on a release button located on the corner of a major panel of the carton that aims to make it difficult for children to open, yet senior friendly. Inside the carton is a film/foil blister that slides out when the CR lock is released, but remains connected to the carton at all times. The assembly process does not require any heat-sealing of paperboard.

According to Legacy’s Web site, the CP is investing in automated blister lines for Ecoslide-RX to meet the project’s early 2012 launch date. The lines will be installed in its St. Louis, MO, facility, which recently tripled its footprint to 270,000 sq ft.

“We are currently building several high-speed lines and have the capacity to add a total of ten,” says Legacy’s Brad Rayner. “We looked at several existing compliance package designs, but we felt the Ecoslide-RX had all the right attributes to become the industry standard, next-generation compliance pack. When we found Keystone and considered the Ecoslide-RX concept, we knew immediately that we had found a scalable, sustainable, economical solution that our customers could use to differentiate their products. With our recent project with Keystone, our vision is to become the leading total solutions provider in the unit-of-use and compliance packaging market.”

Ecoslide-RX is said to be suited for prescription products, physician’s samples, and clinical trial materials. It is smaller than some existing compliance packages for retail pharmacies employing tube chutes, and can be preprinted, eliminating the need for manufacturers to obtain and apply their own labels, he adds.

Ecoslide-RX contains no plastic and, unlike other paperboard compliance packs, requires a blister with minimal amount of film and foil. Fulfillment of Ecoslide-RX can be automated at high speeds, making it cost-effective. Several packaging automation equipment providers reportedly have developed solutions for fulfillment.

St. Louis-based Legacy Pharmaceutical Packaging is a contract packager servicing the pharmaceutical OTC, nutraceutical, and consumer markets. Legacy’s fulfillment operation packages solid oral-dose products in both bottles and blisters. Legacy now offers Ecoslide-RX for meeting sustainability objectives adopted by an increasing number of organizations. The collaboration makes Ecoslide-RX available to pharmaceutical companies that otherwise would require time and capital to either modify existing equipment or install new automation machinery into their facilities.