english.prescrire.org > Annual Prescrire Awards > The Prescrire Awards for 2007 > The 2007 Prescrire Awards for Drugs, Packaging and Information > The 2007 Prescrire Packaging Awards > About the 2007 Prescrire Packaging Awards

The Prescrire Awards for 2007

The 2007 Prescrire Awards for Drugs, Packaging and Information

The 2007 Prescrire Packaging Awards
About the 2007 Prescrire Packaging Awards

Prescrire’s Packaging Awards are intended to draw patients’ and healthcare professionals’ attention to the fact that high-quality packaging is an important factor in safe and effective treatment.

They also provide us with an opportunity to congratulate manufacturers that design patient-friendly packaging, and to encourage other manufacturers to improve their packaging. Poor quality packaging is awarded a yellow or red card, depending on the degree of risk it creates.

Throughout the year the editorial staff examines the packaging of all new drugs. They focus on the outer packaging (the box), the primary internal packaging (bottle, blister pack, tube, etc.), the patient information leaflet, and on any devices provided for administration, such as spoons, graduated oral syringes, syringes and needles for injection. The unit doses are also evaluated for convenience of use and patient safety (tablet divisibility, patch adhesiveness).

This systematic analysis is based on standardised forms. It focuses on drug identifiers (labelling, printing, colour coding), other items contributing to safe use (child-proof caps, dose identifiers), and items helping to provide information to patients (labels, package leaflets). The risk-benefit balance of the product is also taken into account, along with the categories of patients and caregivers most likely to use the drug (e.g. children) and the modes of administration (especially for self-medication).

At the end of each year, the Packaging Awards are granted following a review of the year’s analytical forms, in total independence and with no input from drug or packaging manufacturers (rules available from www.prescrire.org).

© Prescrire April 2008

Source: Prescrire Int 2008; 17 (94): 76.