By Chris Johnston, Senior Account Executive – Carton & Labels, Jones Healthcare Group
Any change to packaging design for an approved pharmaceutical product is a time consuming, detail-orientated effort, even with small brand-driven changes––so when governments update packaging regulations on a larger scale, a company’s entire product line could be impacted, creating change management projects for sometimes hundreds of items. What’s more, if updated regulations introduce new requirements for packaging, this not only adds another layer of complexity, but also presents a significant challenge to any organization given the significant internal resource time and workload necessary to manage changes at this scale.
Pharmaceutical Company Quickly Transitions 28 SKUs To Comply With New Labeling Requirements
By Vlad Spehar, Director of Business Development, Jones Healthcare Group
A large multi-national pharmaceutical company contacted Jones Healthcare Group for assistance in complying with new Health Canada regulatory requirements for labeling over-the-counter (OTC) products.
In January 2017, Health Canada adopted amendments to existing Food and Drug Regulations (Labelling, Packaging and Brand Names of Drugs for Human Use) for non-prescription, OTC drug products. The amendments and new guidance are commonly known as Plain Language Labelling (PLL) regulations. All OTC products at retail must be in full compliance by June 30, 2021.1 The pharmaceutical company contacted Jones well in advance of the effective date due to the volume and complexity of the program and to avoid placing their products at risk of non-compliance.