Developments in pharmaceuticals and life sciences are taking place at an unprecedented rate. The pandemic has pushed the pharmaceutical industry to its limits. Packaging and label management in pharmaceuticals is crucial for patient safety. Even minor packaging errors can lead to grave consequences. Nearly 50% of the recalls in the pharmaceutical industry happen because of labeling errors. Labeling errors can cause thousands of deaths every year and cause companies millions of dollars. 

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Over time, as markets have evolved, the pharmaceuticals and life sciences industry has also changed. These changes have accelerated since the onset of the pandemic. Pharmaceutical and Life sciences industries are tightly regulated, and brands must remain compliant while being competitive. Regulators are also responding to the changes. Here are some of the notable labeling requirements for most modern-day pharma brands.

1. Consistent Quality

Labeling does not only communicate the brand and the product, but it also ensures consumer safety. Labels also ensure regulatory compliance. Modern labels are becoming more inclusive with easily readable text and symbols. Labels and artworks should also be compatible with e-commerce platforms. 

2. Traceability of products

Labels need to include unique identification markers to prevent counterfeits. They also help establish better control over the supply chain. Brands include bar codes, QR codes, device identification codes, and other unique identifiers. Furthermore, labels must also be compatible with tamper-evident packaging systems. 

3. Inclusivity, Accessibility, and Digitization

Labels are replacing hard-to-read instruction leaflets with electronic instructions for use or eIFU. The digital format makes products more accessible with diverse languages and interactive visuals. Packaging prototypes have already shown the advantages of using “smart” labels that can count doses and remind patients to get a refill. Even simple QR codes and NFC tags can help embed digital information in the label. 

Source: Packaging Insights

4. Reduced Go-to-Market Times

With the onset of the pandemic, we saw drugs and vaccines being developed at an unprecedented rate. Regulatory bodies will also respond to the changes in the market. Brands must be flexible with their labeling to remain compliant. Brands are under constant pressure to meet ever-changing regulatory requirements while trying to get the product launched as quickly as possible. 

5. Increased Standardization

The pandemic also accelerated collaboration between global bodies. Even though each region has varying requirements, we may soon see increasing standardization for pharmaceutical and life-sciences products. 

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Remaining compliant and competitive requires an integrated end-to-end solution. Here are seven ways in which label and artwork management software help in pharmaceutical and life sciences brands. 

1. Approve Artworks with e-signatures

Authenticity and traceability are crucial in pharmaceutical labeling from the very beginning. The relevant authority must provide a signature when approving any artwork or label. With the digitization of workflows, e-signatures have become the new norm. With Label Management software for pharmaceuticals, managers can ask stakeholders and reviewers to provide signatures when they approve artwork or a label. Furthermore, audit trails add another layer of traceability. 

2. Reduce Errors with Checklists

Managers can assign checklists to reviewers and collaborators. Checklists allow stakeholders to understand what they need to check. It prevents overlooked errors, quick and precise feedback, and shorter revision cycles. Checklist templates ensure that managers do not have to build them from scratch. The checklists also serve as a communication tool as reviewers can reply with comments. 

3. Enable Collaborative Workflows

Label Management Platforms allow you to bring designers and printers onboard and communicate effectively. The software solution provides secure file sharing and comprehensive proofing and feedback tools to enable a seamless workflow. The tools include color extractor, font finder, spell checker, PDF comparison tool, and more. Collaborators can also annotate the PDF in the browser to add more specific comments. 

4. Easily Manage Digital Assets

Labels often contain information and sharing these files over emails and chats for feedback is not recommended. Label Management Platforms come with integrated secure storage and file viewer with access control. Managers can assign access to designers, reviewers, and vendors as required. Managers can also revoke access when needed. This level of access control is not possible when sharing files over emails. 

5. Easily revert to old versions

If a design update does not get approved, you can easily revert to the old one with version control. Designers do not have to store every change in a separate file, the label management platform can do that automatically. If any change in the design is rejected, the designer can simply download an old version and work on that. Label Management Flows such as Artwork Flow can integrate into popular design tools like Adobe Illustrator to provide seamless access to all the versions of an asset. 

6. Get a holistic view of projects

As a manager, you can get a holistic view of the current artwork and label development projects using the dashboard view. You can see which projects are progressing as expected, which ones are currently experiencing delays, and which ones may experience delays. This information allows managers to be proactive about bottlenecks.

7. Time and cost savings

With an integrated end-to-end cloud-hosted solution, artwork and label development can take place in a unified platform. All collaborators can communicate and share relevant information seamlessly without having to switch over to other products or platforms. This setup improves productivity and reduces the chances of errors creeping in. 

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