Bormioli Pharma unveils connected technologies for digital healthcare

During the last Pharmapack Europe exhibition, the Italian group Bormioli Pharma showcased several innovative and IoT solutions addressing emerging patients’ and industry needs as well as inclusivity and safety concerns: MediClicker and Trax.

Digital healthcare and the use of connected devices are among the growing trends in the industry. More in detail, they can be used to improve patients’ therapy adherence providing information through the use of IoT and preventing the risks of voluntary and involuntary errors in drug administration.

Presented during an open innovation contest by London-based Portuguese designer Fabio Salvador, MediClicker consists of a mechanical, smart-controlled pill-dispensing system, which incorporates IoT functionalities, with a display giving information about the contents and connected to a dedicated app that sends notifications to the patient’s smartphone. The device notifies to the user how many pills must be administered, the patient doses it through a simple button, collecting them from the bottom of the device. Easily programmed on the required treatment, it ensures therapy adherence through a simple dosing system.

Anticounterfeiting is one of the hottest topic in the industry. According to the WHO, over 1 on 2 medicines sold on-line could be fake, while for Europol up to 30% of the drugs sold in developing countries are counterfeited. In Europe, the annual cost for counterfeit drugs in pharma is estimated in 10.2 billion euros.

Bormioli Pharma has developed a not editable, not counterfeitable, multi-technology tracking solution, that could be recognized both by industrial systems and by consumer appliances and devices. Through the use of different technologies – such as laser marking processes able to modify the structure of transparent and semi-transparent elements with a very high accuracy, or NFC – it is possible to create a “digital-twin” of the drug container, able to provide multi-layer information throughout the supply chain.

The unique code allows to access to a blockchain infrastructure that collect and secures the information. These codes and marks, that could be customized, can be detected both using specific light sources or user-friendly vision systems, as well as common industrial code scanners or consumer devices, such as smartphones, to guarantee product information access.