Innovative Product Evolution: Flexi-Cap Plus Offers Enhanced Security due to Integrated Tear Strip

Schreiner MediPharm will present its product innovations at InnoPack as part of CPhI Worldwide in Barcelona on October 4 to 6. A special highlight is the latest further development of Flexi-Cap, an innovative security solution that irreversibly indicates the first opening of primary containers and thus prevents illegal filling and reuse of empty containers with counterfeit substances. Flexi-Cap Plus features a tear strip running through the label as a new integrated element. This offers enhanced tampering protection because the label is destroyed upon initial opening, and can no longer be reused as an alleged original label.

Illegal reuse of empty medicine containers with original labels poses a major problem to pharmaceutical manufacturers. So-called dumpster divers, for instance, sift through rubbish for used original containers and fill them with ineffective or harmful counterfeit substances. The alleged originals are subsequently put on the market without revealing any signs of tampering at first glance.

To counteract these illegal practices, the innovative Flexi-Cap security concept by Schreiner MediPharm is based on the combination of a film cap with a label for clear and irreversible first-opening indication. “The specialty of the new Flexi-Cap Plus variant is that the tear strip does not run through the film cap, but rather is integrated directly in the label. When the tear strip is opened, it automatically destroys the label and makes it impossible to illegally reuse the container with the original label,” explains Ann L. Merchant, President of Schreiner MediPharm.

By adding other overt and covert security technologies, such as holograms, color-shifting inks, void effects or security pigments, further hurdles to tampering can be raised. Flexi-Cap Plus can be flexibly customized to accommodate various glass container types, shapes and sizes, and is easily integrated into a pharmaceutical manufacturer’s existing brand design. Particularly useful for small containers, the lid of the film cap also offers additional space that can be used for imprinting barcodes or integrating NFC chips for interactive applications.

The label construction is applied without heat and thus suitable for temperature-sensitive medicines. Ann L. Merchant summarizes the benefits: “End users in healthcare settings receive an efficient security solution that is intuitive to use and makes it easy to check first opening. Last but not least, the patient is protected against administration of ineffective or harmful medications.”