Supporting Patient Safety – Contribution By Drug Containment Solutions

Patient safety is defined by the Institute of Medicine as: the prevention of harm to patients.¹ The extension of this principle to general safety in healthcare is: the freedom from accidental injury, and it applies not only to patients, but to all professionals and workers in the healthcare field.²

Managing such a complex scenario includes, among other things, the standardizing and simplifying of equipment, supplies and processes. In particular, ensuring the safe containment of sensitive drug formulations, and allowing safe drug administration at the point of care, relies very much on the container closure and delivery systems. West is committed to the safe and efficient delivery of drug products to patients. Achieving this commitment has many facets, among which are:

• well understood extraction profiles of elastomer components
• many elastomer components offered with a FluroTec™ laminate as a chemical barrier to minimize both migration of compounds from components, and interaction with the drug product
• elastomer packaging components delivered ready-to-sterilize or ready-to-use
• available analytical services to measure leachables from containers
• supportive technical information – available 24/7 – in the West Knowledge Center
• reconstitution and transfer systems, and prefillable syringe safety systems like NovaGuard™ SA PRO safety systems, that help to prevent accidental needle stick injuries
• self-administration systems, such as the SmartDose™ drug delivery platform, that enable safe delivery of drug products by patients in the home

These, along with many other points, in collaboration with Technical Customer Support (TCS), enable customers to simplify a complex scenario and make the best selection of products for the safe containment and delivery of drug products. For more information, contact a TCS representative.

FluroTec™ and NovaGuard™ are registered trademarks of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc., in the United States and other jurisdictions.  FluroTec™ technology is licensed from Daikyo Seiko, Ltd.

SmartDose™ is a registered trademark of West Pharma. Services IL, Ltd., a subsidiary of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc.