At Origin, we understand the need to manufacture and supply products that are effective and safe.
There are an estimated 237 million medication errors in England each year – including prescription complications as well as patients dispensing and consuming medicines incorrectly – leading to 181,626 bed days and up to 1,708 deaths.
Ensuring patient safety in the pharmaceutical space requires all aspects of the chain to align – from packaging manufacturing to delivery of medicine. Here, Origin looks at some of the key stages in delivering safe pharma solutions to patients…
Clinical trials
Before a drug goes to market, it has to prove that it’s fit for human consumption. This is done through conducting clinical trials – monitoring different groups’ progress over six weeks to three months to analyze the data and publish findings.
While there is always an element of danger, pharma companies look to minimize it as best as possible. By working with the FDA & MHRA, manufacturers like Origin can be sure products meet the necessary guidelines.
But what does this process involve?
Firstly, there is pre-testing, which is the data compiled before the human testing phase. Manufacturers pore over every aspect of how the drug worked in animals to look for patterns and anomalies. Next, they outline a plan in line with the FDA & MHRA regulations regarding the definition of objectives and goals and how apply to patients.
Once the trials are well-designed, a dedicated team of researchers analyzes the patients to ensure the entire process is controlled.
Dosages
To avoid the risks associated with inaccurate dosing – and at worst, poisoning from accidental overdosing – manufacturers have a responsibility to keep packaging up to date and packed with detail.
On Origin products, patients can find information relating to everything from the strength of the medication to the daily dosage.
This should be displayed clearly so that it cannot be overlooked – featuring clear and concise instructions in a large font, spaced liberally, and differentiating and defining confusing terms.
A high level of emphasis must be placed on communication. As well as call centres for patients and customers, manufacturers should also have compliance programmes – reaching out to see how people are managing with their medication. All these are in line with the guidelines set out by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.
Children are also a priority because they are inquisitive. This leads to over 54,000 UK hospital admissions for under-5s each year due to poisoning – with over three-quarters of these attributed to pharmaceuticals.
So, it’s critical that, if pharmaceutical products fall into the wrong hands, children find them impossible to open. For example, Origin uses tamper-safe bottles and blister packaging that require dexterity to open that is beyond the capabilities of children.
Counterfeit drugs
There is a world epidemic regarding counterfeit drugs – with the fake medicines industry believed to be worth up to $432 billion.
Counterfeit drugs present a risk to patients, as they are designed to look just like authentic products but there is no guarantee they have passed any of the regulations that govern the legal approval of new medicines.
If you feel as if something isn’t right, the detailed instructions on the packaging will always shed some light on the situation. Medicines that don’t do as instructed may not be real. This is where communication between manufacturers and patients is also encouraged to report concerns and inform how patients should proceed if they think there is an issue.
Manufacturers are also playing their part – with anti-counterfeit technology on the rise and now including mass serialisation technology that requires all packaging to be fitted with a unique code that can be traced throughout its journey to the patient.
Similarly, digital watermarks perform a similar role in allowing authentic medicines to be verified at the point of dispensing by scanning an encoded graphic.
Origin’s patient safety mission
Patient safety is important to Origin, which is why we ensure products go through the most rigorous of testing before they are ready for public consumption. We follow FDA & MHRA regulations to the letter, while conversing with them regularly, and have various points of contact for our patients.
Origin’s thorough process involves communicating with regulatory bodies and keeping up to date with the latest safety trends. During and after our process, we collect and collate data relating to the experience and wellbeing of our customers and clients.
As well as maintaining high standards, we also focus on clinical trials, dosages and counterfeit drugs. To us, they are the three most important factors regarding the pharmaceutical industry and require stringent testing to ensure our patient’s health is safeguarded.
For more information on our process and how our products get the Origin seal of approval, chat with our team today.
