Prescription Pharmaceutical Packaging Products
The entire team at Keystone Folding Box Company takes pride in the innovative design and precise manufacturing of our award-winning range of healthcare packaging solutions.
Keystone has been specializing in paperboard packaging solutions for more than a century, meaning no other company can provide pharmaceutical manufacturers with deeper, broader knowledge of this important industry niche.
To this day, driving our history is a determination to continuously innovate. Groundbreaking child-resistance and senior-friendliness solutions, forward-thinking sustainability initiatives and state-of-the-art printing and production capabilities are just of few of the ways we remain on the cutting edge of paperboard packaging for pharma, healthcare and personal care products.
Our paperboard packaging provides safe, serviceable and sustainable solutions for a full gamut of applications, including oral solid dose prescription products, clinical trial study drugs, OTC products, injectables and medical devices.
Staying up-to-date is what keeps us up to the task of supplying pharma and healthcare companies big and small with unsurpassed paperboard packaging solutions. Keystone Folding Box Company’s latest additions and achievements include:
Fighting Opioid Abuse
Blister pack for limited opioid painkiller dispensing
Keystone Folding Box Co. received an award from the National Association of Chain Drug Stores for a Limited Opioid Dose version of its Ecoslide-RX blister package. Selected as the NACDS Total Store Expo Product Showcase winner in the “Pharmacy Operations, Equipment and Services” category, the solution exemplifies the types of prescription-limiting, product theft-averse solutions called for in the Opioid Crisis Response Act, which passed the U.S. Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support in September 2018.
In the run-up to the bill, blister packages were highlighted as useful tools in fighting both overprescribing of painkillers and their subsequent abuse. Keystone’s modified, customizable version of its Ecoslide-RX prescription blister package is designed to limit dosages, discourage pill theft and improve dispensing safety.
The design of the Ecoslide-RX allows doctors to prescribe smaller quantities of opioid medication via limited days of dosing presented in blister packs. The packaging also provides numerical identification of each dose, eliminating the possibility of pill-count errors.
Third-generation Green Packaging
Ecoslide-RX 3.0 Prescription Compliance Package: 100% recyclable packaging solution
Initially introduced in 2011, the latest iteration of Keystone’s child-resistant Ecoslide-RX compliance package includes an updated reclosable locking feature designed to offer consumers an even better experience. The Ecoslide-RX 3.0 is made from 100% recyclable paperboard, and is easily separated from its internal blister for recycling. The blister is disposed of, but contains only a fraction of disposable plastic when compared to bottles. Its spacious package format allows for large, easy-to-read type on all sides of the package for clear product identification.
Ecoslide-OTC™ for over-the-counter medicines
Keystone Folding Box Company’s Ecoslide-OTC™ is a paperboard pack for over-the-counter medication that eliminates the need for larger plastic peel/push blister packs. Ecoslide-OTC™ allows manufacturers to eliminate up to 50% of plastics used in conventional blister packs. Ecoslide-OTC™ features a push-button safety mechanism that provides child-resistance while eliminating the need for two-step “peel/push-through foil,” which many consumers find frustrating to open. Made from 100% recyclable and compostable paperboard, Ecoslide-OTC™ is easily separated from its smaller internal blister for recycling. The enclosed blister contains only a fraction of disposable plastic compared to peel/push blisters or plastic bottles.
Secondary Packaging for Injectable Pharmaceutical Products
Injectable medicines are representing an increasingly larger percentage of drugs produced in the pharma industry. Solutions for this sector must evolve as its market share rises.
Available in a variety of tailored features for clinical studies in either all-paperboard or plastic-hybrid formats, solutions are available for prefilled syringes, autoinjector pens, vials and ampoules, as well as combinations of these drug delivery formats. Keystone’s collection meets a range of needs through options such as tamper evidence and child-resistance via reclosable locking mechanisms – all while ensuring parenteral product protection throughout the pharmaceutical supply chain.
- A line of Injectable Packs suitable for prefilled syringes or autoinjector pens, and can be designed to include ancillary items like sterile wipes
- The InjectaSlide package incorporates a thermoformed tray that slides inside a carton and into a locked position; a lock release button must be pressed to unlock and slide the tray forward for easy access to each dose.
- The Vial Pack line of cartons includes designs for packaging a single vial or ampoule, or as many products as a program requires.
Customization & Variability: Digital Printing Capabilities for Short-run Carton Production
Alternate languages, promotional opportunities, track & trace mandates. Pharmaceutical manufacturers are increasingly asked to produce medicines with differing packaging text, images and markings. To that end, any paperboard packaging provider servicing the pharma sector without digital printing capabilities is doing so in an incomplete fashion.
Keystone Folding Box Company offers digital printing capabilities by way of a premium, multifunction, four-color process system. The digital press meets the increasing demand – particularly in the pharmaceutical sector – for cost-effective, short-run package manufacturing.
Through its digital printing technology, Keystone can rapidly manufacture anywhere from 1 to 18,000 cartons, depending on specific customer needs. Compared with a conventional offset press, digital printing also has significantly decreased set-up times. It ideal for the variable data printing jobs (VDPs) that have become more prevalent in the life science industry with the upcoming requirement for serialization. Keystone can create images with up to 1200X4800 DPI resolution with two-sided print registration.
Certification for Private Label Brands
Keystone Folding Box Co. has gained GMI Prime certification from the Graphic Measures International organization. The recognition is a prerequisite for many brand owners and retailers, including Walgreens and Target, to contract with packaging vendors, meaning the distinction provides Keystone with a significantly expanded pool of potential customers.
GMI evaluates five key components: process control and documentation, equipment maintenance, training procedures, operator capability and equipment performance. The print test measured Keystone’s ability to match spot colors, a key factor in ensuring consistency with various brand standards. The organization certifies, monitors and measures the performance of packaging suppliers, helping brand owners control variables through print facility certification and scientific, repeatable measurement of global packaging. The organization works with its brand owners, product vendors and packaging suppliers to establish processes that effectively manage production, enhance packaging quality and build brand equity.