At Abbott’s suburban Chicago headquarters, a “Hall of Fame” shadowbox sits in a random hallway of the packaging plant. A handful of plaques outline recent accomplishments, with space left for future recognitions.

“We’re a growing company,” says Patrick Killian, director of the Packaging Center of Excellence, Abbott.

That seems a bit modest, considering a recent onslaught of medical device acquisitions, an intimidating trail of awards and an extensive list of billion-dollar-generating drugs.

Life is good in Abbott Park, Ill. Total worldwide revenues increased by more than 13% from $19.7 billion in FY2004 to $22.3 billion in FY2005 and are expected to hit higher in 2006. Humira stole the show. The rheumatoid-arthritis medicine generated $1.4 billion in 2005 worldwide sales and should exceed Abbott’s expectations of $2.0 billion globally for FY2006. The Humira auto-injector pen, introduced mid-year, is helping to generate much-deserved positive attention.

The May 2004 spin-off of Hospira, Abbott’s global hospital products division, allowed the company to focus on expanding its advanced technology medical products. Expanding, of course, is putting it lightly.

Kos Pharmaceuticals (prescription products for chronic cardiovascular and respiratory diseases), TheraSense (diabetes test strips and glucose monitoring systems) and i-STAT (portable handheld test systems for hospital practitioners) are just a few names Abbott has recently added to its team portfolio. Medical products manufacturers now know that when Abbott comes knocking, it means business. Case in point: the recent acquisition of Guidant Corp.’s vascular and endovascular divisions.

Abbott found itself in the middle of an intense bidding war between Boston Scientific and Johnson & Johnson (Boston Scientific ultimately sealed the deal ha April for approximately $27 billion, with Abbott acquiring certain divisions). Although Boston Scientific has seen no financial return to date, Abbott walked away with a strong foothold in the $6-billion-a-year stent business.

Streamlining efforts and diversified teams in the packaging division have brought Abbott’s goals full circle.

By showing such courage and creativity through key acquisitions, successful new products and continued process improvements, Abbott has earned our Drug Packager of the Year honor for 2006.

Streamline, standardize

At Abbott, product innovation includes developing standards that provide brand uniformity and comfort to the customer, and executing these goals requires a diverse team. The Packaging Center of Excellence at the Abbott Park headquarters comprises 25 to 30 employees who oversee packaging initiatives for more than 15 pharmaceutical packaging operations worldwide.

The center brings together members of the package engineering group, packaging equipment organization, packaging commodities group, marketing and regulatory departments, and the manufacturing science and technology organization. Most recently, the center has been dedicated to increasing overall efficiency with standard packages and uniform labeling.

The standardization and streamlining of packaging created significant benefits all through the company, from purchasing to quality to operations to supply chain. The types and sizes of pharmaceutical packages for commercial distribution have been reduced from 14 or 15 bottles to three or four, and two or three standard blister designs. Abbott is also in the process of implementing standard enclosures, cartons and corrugate shippers.

The result? A significant reduction in costs. Fewer package types mean a higher volume of orders, but a smaller number of orders. And working with fewer suppliers for fewer commodities creates a bottom line benefit, says Jovo Dragicevic, manager of package engineering and development for Abbott’s global pharmaceutical operations.

Common commodities call for common equipment processes, which decrease changeovers at the plant level for Abbott and its suppliers.

Abbott’s recent string of acquisitions also brought new ideas to the design department and supply chain. “There are always opportunities to see how things are done differently and take some value from the synergies,” Dragicevic says.

A patient-focused design method runs through the arteries of the entire corporation. “We maintain an ongoing dialogue with our customers by conducting surveys and focus-study sessions with pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, chain drug store pharmacy directors and others to confirm our innovations bring value, improvement and convenience in real-world usage,” says Killian.

When conducting surveys for the recent standardization efforts, the packaging group included representatives from hospital, large chain and independent pharmacies.

“We don’t want to standardize something pharmacists don’t like,” Killian says. “We ask the questions up front–Do you like round bottles? Do you like this child-resistant feature?–before we make a commitment to say, this is the type of cap we’re going to use for the next five years.”

Quality assured

Standardizing packaging while keeping up with quality and compliance expectations is no small undertaking.

“First and foremost, Abbott’s packaging must comply with regulatory and quality requirements to ensure the end user gets high-quality, well-protected drugs with information that is clear to all end users–wholesalers, retail operations, doctors and patients,” says Lewis Sita, director of engineering for Abbott’s Global Pharmaceutical Operations division.

The pharmaceutical division is implementing a uniform labeling system to make it easier for the pharmacist to identify bottles when dispensing, and increase brand identity (see “Abbott’s packages focus on safety and comfort,” p.32, for more information). To reduce confusion for pharmacists in differentiating between bottles, the packaging team developed a color-coding process. The color bar on standard labels changes for every dosage strength and the color bars are different for each product family.

Quality assurance was also key in implementing the Physician-Labeling Rule, an initiative introduced in 2006 requiring simplified labels with important information prominently displayed. To comply with the new requirements, Abbott installed new printing equipment on six blister packaging lines in four different manufacturing plants and invested in equipment that included new on-line printing equipment. The investment also included new bar code verification equipment and scanners for each of the quality control organizations. Additional levels of validation and new procedures for bar code verification were established in each plant.

“It was piloted on one line at one plant, and then rolled out in phases to the other plants,” Dragicevic said. “This significantly accelerated and streamlined the installation and validation processes.”

Abbott expects the same high standards from its suppliers. Each year, Abbott acknowledges valuable suppliers with its Supplier Excellence Awards program. Supplier performance is assessed in the areas of logistics, quality, service, cost leadership and process improvement.

“Our suppliers take a lot of pride in receiving that award, and it’s one of the ways we build relationships with them,” Killian says.

Abbott doesn’t fall exception to market demands for radio frequency identification (RFID), making sure to stay on the cutting edge of anti-counterfeiting efforts. “We work very hard at staying current,” Killian says. “We have people who are specifically focused on this issue and making sure it’s all about comfort and patient safety.”

(For more information on anti-counterfeiting, see “Abbott’s packages focus on safety and comfort”, p.32.)

Fostering feedback

A diversified approach, from package design through to quality assurance, has been essential in keeping the creative juices flowing and promoting an innovative team. Streamlining and creating unified product delivery systems has done anything but stifle the flow of ideas. Feedback from all departments is encouraged.

Quarterly packaging forums are held that allow internal or external speakers such as consultants to discuss current issues. An idea generation program has also been implemented for employees to submit ideas on a regular basis. The ideas are reviewed by management and assigned to individuals to determine feasibility or viability of whether the idea meets business objectives.

One of the biggest challenges facing the packaging division is compliance packaging.

“Packaging can play a significant role in ensuring that critical information related to a particular product–for example, drug name, strength and dosing instructions–is provided in an easy-to-read format to help ensure patient safety, compliance with a prescription dosing schedule and reduce the risks of medical dispensing errors,” says director of engineering Sita.

They also provide significantly more billboard space than standard vials.

Compliance packages will continue to be a focus in the coming years, with an increasing drive to execute new developments as efficiently as possible.

“There’s a balance between standardizing and efficiency and innovation,” Killian says. “That’s a continuous challenge, to always be pushing the envelope with the customer and trying to meet their needs and still maintaining an efficient manufacturing workload so that you can provide cost-effective products.”

The Humira Pen encapsulates streamlining while keeping innovation at the forefront. The biologic was first introduced in 2003 in a revolutionary pre-filled syringe.

“It’s not a trivial thing to take monoclonal antibodies and modify them to make them liquid, and get them small enough to put them into a small entity to be able to be applied by a patient;’ says Erik von Borke, divisional vice president of immunology for Abbott.

The syringe successfully filled a gap in the marketplace, but project leaders didn’t stop there. They developed the Humira Pen, released in mid-2006, to eliminate the exposure of the needle and make it even easier to self administer.

“The Humira Pen has been very well received by patients and physicians, and has been recognized with the Arthritis Foundation’s Ease of Use Seal of Approval for its innovative design,” says Joe Julian, product development manager, Abbott. Around the office, Julian is affectionately referred to as “Mr. Humira Pen” because he was so instrumental in its development.

The team created a device that encased the existing pre-filled syringe. By designing an auto-injection device that could accommodate the primary pre-filled syringe, Abbott was able to save valuable development and validation time. (For more on the design of the Pen, see “Abbott’s packages focus on safety and comfort,” p.32. For a glance at Humira on the packaging line, see “At main plant, flexibility is the best medicine” p.36.)

Patient benefit inspired the package. “You ask, what do patients and physicians want? And you want something that doesn’t hurt, that is tolerable every time you take it,” von Borke says. “The patient gives you the idea for the design.”
Members of the Humira team visited physician offices and spoke with nurses and patients. They also looked at children’s toys, like Playmobil, for ideas on developing a package that’s easy to use. After creating multiple packages for the pen, the team conducted market research to find their winner. One design opened like a chocolate box; another had a bag as its secondary package.

“They told us, ‘This is over-engineered. I don’t have a good feeling using this if I just have to throw it away,’” von Borke says. “In the end, what we came out with was easy for the patient, easy for the supply chain.”

Abbott’s sustainability leadership continues with package optimization

Abbott’s commitment to environmental awareness is evident in the Global Pharmaceutical Operations division’s physician sample packaging optimization project. The variation in size, shape and overall appearance of samples has been streamlined, reducing waste while increasing brand identity. Lighter-board cartons with the same performance quality were implemented, and recycled board was introduced in select applications.

“It’s an ongoing process to evaluate and push back on our suppliers as well, in making sure that we are using materials that are sustainable” says Jovo Dragicevic, manager of package engineering and development for Abbott’s Global Pharmaceutical Operations division.