Every year the European Association of the Self-Adhesive Label Industry (FINAT) recognizes the industry’s best products. This year the Smart Blister Card from Schreiner MediPharm was the winner in the prestigious “Innovation & Electronic Printing – Electronic Devices” category. It extends standard multi-dose blister packs by a digital adherence monitoring tool enabling tracking of medication intake in real time.
Polypharmacy describes permanent therapies involving the simultaneous prescription of several medications. In our aging societies, that concerns more and more people. However, complex medication plans do not make it easy for patients to always take the right medicine at the right time, which may have fatal consequences: According to estimates, wrong parallel intake of different medicines causes up to 25,000 deaths per year in Germany alone. The Smart Blister Card from Schreiner MediPharm provides an innovative way of monitoring adherence to the medication regimen.
In the case of polypharmaceutical applications, medicines are frequently filled into standard blister packs by hospital and large pharmacies so that patients can take them according to their medication plans. However, physicians and pharmacies actually have no way of tracking whether and when patients have taken their medicines. That is possible with Schreiner MediPharm’s Smart Blister Card because it enables digital medication adherence monitoring. Integrated into the Smart Blister Card are conductive lines combined with an electronic unit. As soon as the patient pushes tablets out of a cavity data is generated in real time such as the exact time of pill removal, the respective cavity, and the dose it contains. The data is stored in the Smart Blister Card and transmitted to a database via a smartphone app or a reader using NFC or Bluetooth technology.
For physicians and pharmacists, the handling of the Smart Blister Card is both convenient and flexible. After filling and sealing the blister pack, the Smart Blister Card is simply attached to the back of the pack without impairing the filling process. The technology can be inconspicuously integrated into the packaging design. The Smart Blister Card is suitable for nearly all existing multi-dose and single-dose blister packs and can be adapted to the respective application. Thanks to the transparent film, the marking of each cavity remains clearly visible. In addition, a temperature monitoring feature for sensitive active ingredients is an available option.
Patients can take their tablets as usual because the cavities can be pushed through as easily as before. Additionally, smartphone apps can provide patients with digital self-monitoring support and even enable a reminder function to comply with their medication plan. Thus, the Smart Blister Card from Schreiner MediPharm helps reduce the risks of polypharmacy and enhance therapeutic success.