the packaging for nasacort allergy 24hr has been recognized with a 2015 worldstar in the pharmaceutical & medical packaging category. the package is a foldover carded blister intended to differentiate the product from other nasal sprays as well as emphasize that nasacort allergy 24hr is the same prescriptionstrength product consumers may have received from their doctors, explains nancy limback, manager, packaging innovation & development at sanofi.the marketing team from sanofi&rsquos consumer healthcare division, chattem inc., and sanofi uk r&d worked with sanofi package development to identify the consumer and retailer needs that also became part of the project design inputs, explains limback. &ldquoproviding top quality product to consumerspatients is our main priority and always nonnegotiable,&rdquo limback tells pmp news. &ldquoto do so, detailed product stability and regulatory requirements are identified early as design inputs.&rdquolimback reports that goldstein group, reedlane, and rohrer corp. all played key roles during the project. &ldquothe advantage of leveraging not only internal resources but external partners really helped this package hit a homerun,&rdquo she says.the goldstein group handled graphic design. &ldquothe designers used the same variation of blue from the prescription label to help maintain brand equity,&rdquo limback says. &ldquothey also included a bluetoorange striped sunburst at the top of the package to highlight the product&rsquos 24hour efficacy and represent 24 hours of relief.&rdquocontract packager reed lane &ldquohelped identify solutions to address some of the hurdles we faced during development and performed the secondary packaging operation,&rdquo she says.rohrer &ldquosupported the nasacort team through development of the secondary packaging and manufacturing of the &lsquon&rsquo thermoform and the booklet card,&rdquo she says. and &ldquomps worked with us to develop the literature with customized paper and a fold pattern that was functional without the use of adhesive.&rdquolimback says that the package development team needed &ldquoto maintain the same direct contact materials, barrier properties, and surface area as the primary prescription package. the sanofi package development team worked closely with chattem marketing and the holmes chapel, uk, team where the product is manufactured to develop an updated look for the primary package with a new pump overcap. the prescription bottle was modified only slightly to accept the new otc overcap.&rdquosanofi chose blister packaging so that the product would &ldquostand out on the retail shelves,&rdquo says limback. with a blister thermoformed in the shape of an &ldquon,&rdquo &ldquothe patented design reinforces and protects the nasacort brand identity. consumers prefer to see the actual product in the package, and the &ldquon&rdquo thermoform allows product visibility. this visibility is provided by the &lsquon&rsquo thermoform, which also addresses the california slack fill requirements.&rdquosanofi also needed the secondary package to be tamper evident, meet shelfsize requirements, work well in different display platforms, and operate in various retailer shelfpusher systems, limback explains.and, as &ldquoa firstinclass product, &ldquochattem felt it was important to provide educational information along with the regulated copy in an easytoread format. the booklet card, which is printed on two sides, provides generous space for graphics and text. it was important to offer clear and compelling graphics to help educate consumers on the product use and benefits. the reclosable front partial booklet cover helps provide this information in addition to the regulated copy,&rdquo she says.the team did face some challenges, but limback says they were overcome by detailed planning, open communication and testing by the global crossfunctional team.first, the project required &ldquoa secondary package that closely matched the barrier properties of the prescription carton,&rdquo she explains. &ldquofor the first time, we utilized lowmigration inks and coatings in a patterned application on the booklet card to avoid direct contact with the labeled bottles.&rdquoin addition, &ldquoto provide circulation within the secondary package, ventilation ports were added to the booklet card and ventilation channels were added to the thermoform,&rdquo she says. &ldquowe also placed the electronic security tags on the compact package without direct bottle contact.&rdquothe team was also challenged to identify &ldquoa reclose technology that worked on two dissimilar surfaces thermoform and card and could be applied automatically,&rdquo she says. &ldquowe tested a multitude of technologies including various patterns of adhesives and tapes before selecting the current pressure sensitive wafer from our vendor, ccl label, with zoned adhesive application. various booklet card scores and prebreaks were tested to support the reclose feature.&ldquoadditionally, we had to determine how to hold the round bottle with the label facing forward in the thermoform without the standard use of adhesive,&rdquo she continues. &ldquoour solution led us to carefully position each bottle in the thermoform with the label facing forward before the backing booklet card is positioned and sealed.&rdquosanofi also wanted to use recycled content in the package. &ldquowe wanted to create an environmentally friendly package, so it was critical that the nasacort allergy 24hr package use less paperboard than a similar sized standard carton,&rdquo she says. &ldquothe paperboard has been certified by the sustainable forestry initiative sfi, which sets standards and conducts audits on sustainable forest management. the thermoform is made from rpet, which uses a minimum of 40 recycled pet resin content. our vendors had experience in working with these materials, and therefore, the challenges were minimal.&rdquohard work paid off. &ldquothe package was designed and tested to ensure that it is protected throughout the various channels of distribution,&rdquo limback continues.&ldquothis inventive new package design for sanofi&rsquos launch of nasacort into retail is another example of how rohrer can work closely with a customer through design ideation sessions to a successful mass market launch, &ldquo adds rob van gilse, vice president of sales and marketing of rohrer corporation. &ldquoit highlights rohrer&rsquos ability to meet the market demands of retail packaging while distinguishing our customers&rsquo product on shelf.&rdquolimback is proud of the team&rsquos effort and the industry recognition they&rsquove received. &ldquoas someone who has worked in the package development arena in different roles for many years, winning a recognized packaging industry award has been on my bucket list for a long time,&rdquo she says. &ldquoat first, we won an ameristar award for the nasacort allergy 24hr package, which was an honor for the corporation as well as the project team. this win allowed us to enter our packaging into the worldstar awards. it was then such a thrill to find out that the nasacort allergy 24hr package won a 2015 worldstar award. what a great validation of our team&rsquos efforts and the importance of package innovation worldwide on behalf of the team, i can certainly say we are honored to join that esteemed group of winners.&rdquolimback will speak about innovation during the june 10 keynote &ldquopharma package innovation &ndash method or magic&rdquo at pharmapack north america conference in new york city. 
