Whilst the ever-higher cost of smoking has had some impact upon conquering addiction, sheer inconvenience looks certain to accelerate the process.

Aids to kicking the habit are enjoying a sales bonanza and Swiss-based pharmaceuticals manufacturer Novartis is looking to cash in on it, thanks in part to an innovative new pack format for its Nicotinell nicotine-replacement chewing-gum.

According to Novartis Consumer Health global packaging project senior manager Lionel Jeannin, Nicotinell’s timely new look on UK shelves is purely fortuitous. Including the need to meet the pharmaceuticals industry’s complex regulatory validation criteria, it actually took the development team over two years to create the pack.

“We had consumer feedback pointing to a greater need for portability that applied to various products within our portfolio, especially for the Nicotinell brand. We started work on improving the 12-gum blister portability in 2004 and filed a patent the following year. Prior to the pack’s introduction last November we’d spent a further six months on a full feasibility study and concept testing programme.”

The new pack, known as an ‘L-pack’ after Jeannin’s concept, effectively combines three separate components – the outer carton, the 12-capsule blister and the multi-page patient information leaflet (PIL) – into a single co-ordinated unit, explains Jeannin. “It’s really quite straightforward: the carton blank is folded in a specific way with the blister attached to the side flap and also folded. When you open the box, the blister opens with it.”

The PIL is also attached to the carton, and has its own adhesive tab to facilitate opening and closure. “The benefit to consumers is that if they ever need to check anything about the product, the leaflet is right there. Before, it could easily be misplaced or lost.” Novartis was also pleased that in addition to reducing the pack size by 50%, the new pack has reduced cartonboard usage by 10-15%.

UK folding carton converter Field Boxmore played an essential role in the development process, and has subsequently gone on to supply more than 1m blanks to the Novartis manufacturing plant in Derbyshire, says technical development director Carol Hammond.

“Novartis came to us with the original concept, and we had to sign a confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement in order to start work on it. That entailed coming up with how to make the hinge, and how to attach the blister – plus putting forward suggestions to their suppliers for the development of the assembly machine. We also produced all of the prototypes and sampling units manually.

“One of the most difficult things was the hinge, as it’s a fairly heavy blister that has to be attached,” Hammond continues, “and making sure that the pack stayed closed. We had to work to a specification that allowed for the pack being opened and closed a set number of times, and also had to ensure that if the pack was accidentally dropped then it stayed closed.”

The locking tab took a lot of work to ensure that while it was tight enough to stay closed, it was not too tight to open. “We spent many hours on that particular piece of board,” Hammond says.

“The other hard bit was to get the leaflet to be detected. Novartis wanted to be 100% certain that it there as an integral element with the pack, hence the UV-reactive varnish as a solution.”

Regardless of consumer response, the packaging industry has just accorded the L-pack two gold Starpack awards for technical innovation. With exclusive ownership of the intellectual property, Novartis may well decide to apply the L-pack to other consumer healthcare products.

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Printer Field Boxmore
Job Nicotinell L-pack
Purpose of the job To improve pack portability
Stock 260gsm white-back GC1 board
Type of print Offset litho throughout, between 4-6 colours dependent on regional application