Nemera participates in an exclusive Q&A on their 2016 INTERPHEX Exhibitor Award: the Best New Product/Service Award.
On April 26, 2016, the first day of INTERPHEX, six winners were announced for the competitive INTERPHEX Exhibitor Awards. The six categories and the corresponding companies who won the awards are as follows:
- Best in Show: GE Healthcare Life Sciences
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Best New Product/Service: Nemera
- Editor’s Choice: Catalent Pharma Solutions
- Best Technological Innovation: Videojet Technologies
- Efficiency Champion [NEW]: Millipore Sigma
- Biotech Innovation Award [NEW]: Bausch + Stroebel
Two representatives from Nemera— Fanny Sellier, Global Category Manager for the Ophthalmic range, and Juan Sarmiento, North America Sales Director—participated in an exclusive Q&A with Pharmaceutical Processing to talk about their INTERPHEX Exhibitor Award, the Best New Product/Service Award. Their edited responses are below.
Q: Congrats on your Best New Product/Service INTERPHEX Exhibitor Award! Could you tell us a little but about the Novelia® BFS?
Sellier: With Novelia®, Nemera is proud to bring a safe and cost-effective solution for eliminating preservatives from eye drops. This is improving treatment compliance and patients’ safety and comfort. By combining Novelia® with the bottelpack® blow-fill-seal technology by Rommelag, we make it even safer, more convenient, and easier to implement.
Q: How long has Novelia® BFS been commercially available?
Sellier: Novelia BFS is not on the market yet. Customers now need to purchase and validate a BFS machine adapted to Novelia® to commercialize the product. However, Novelia® with standard bottles is already on the market since 2012 across four continents with medical devices and drug products.
Q: What sparked the idea behind Novelia® BFS? Any interesting discoveries along with way?
Sellier: The idea was to offer the best preservative-free multidose system with the safest BFS technology!
Q: How is the Novelia® BFS different from its competitors? How is it similar?
Sellier: Novelia® BFS is the only preservative-free system using BFS technology today. Our Novelia® system is patient-friendly and has a unique Blue Tip to better aim. Its opening is intuitive thanks to its screw cap and the device can be easily carried in a bag or in a pocket as the cap is tight (cannot come off) and no leakage is possible.
Q: Were there any challenges you faced in the design and creation of Novelia® BFS?
Sellier: Challenges are in every step of the development! Our technical experts at both Nemera and Rommelag worked in close collaboration to make it happen and deliver the final device.
Q: Could you speak a little bit more on why you chose to create a preservative-free multidose system?
Sellier: Preservatives are used in most multidose eye drops today and, when taken on a regular basis for chronic eye disease, they can cause eye irritation, allergies, and cornea damages, for example. Patients really need gentle formulations free of preservatives to protect their eyes. Unit-doses could be used also; however, for a regular posology a preservative-free multidose is more economical, sustainable, and easier to carry than multiple single units.
Q: Do you offer different sizes/versions of the Novelia® BFS bottles? If so, please explain.
Sellier: The beauty with Novelia® BFS is that it can be used with any unique container design! Each customer could basically create its own bottle shape and size.
Q: How do you hope to change the market with Novelia® BFS?
Sellier: We recently launched this product and we are already convinced it will be a great success, based on highly positive and exciting customer feedback. The global market is switching from eye droppers with preservatives to preservative-free eye droppesr. Novelia® BFS combines everything a patient needs—it’s safe, easy to use, and convenient system for preservative-free drops. It also combines everything a pharmaceutical company needs: the most affordable, compact, and safe solution for preservative-free drops.
Q: What is the manufacturing process of Novelia® BFS like?
Sellier: First a container is created and filled with a formulation in the bottelpack® machine. Then, the Novelia® nozzle/cap is brought to the machine via an isolator and inserted at the top of the container. Lastly, the container is sealed onto the Novelia® system. Several quality controls also happen during the manufacturing process to make sure the product is well assembled and conform to our specifications.
Q: Are there specific drugs that are not compatible with Novelia® BFS? Conversely, are there drugs that benefit from drug delivery via Novelia® BFS?
Sellier: Most of the ophthalmic drugs on the market today are compatible with the Novelia® system. It works with very liquid to very viscous solutions (up to 1500 Cp) as well as emulsions and suspensions.
Q: What, would you say, are one of the key market needs that Novelia® BFS addresses?
Sellier: Novelia® BFS answers patients’ needs as it is safe, easy to use, and brings together the preservative-free formulation with the convenience of a bottle. During a recent comprehensive User Study, 76 percent of patients preferred Novelia® among preservative-free multidose systems, and 43 percent of patients think that Novelia® would enhance compliance to their current treatment.
Q: What was your reaction when you heard that your company had won the award?
Sarmiento: Winning the Best New Product/Service INTERPHEX Exhibitor Award was a validation that all the patient research and product testing that the teams have put into Novelia® are paying off. We felt very proud to receive the recognition, and it drove more traffic to our booth at the show.
Sellier: The Award came as a great surprise to us—we had not exhibited at INTERPHEX for a long time and we knew that winning the Award would be really challenging. We are very proud of this, and also in acknowledgement of the consistent effort and outstanding team work during the development of our Novelia® BFS.
Q: Beyond the INTERPHEX Exhibitor Awards, what were some of your favorite memories at INTERPHEX 2016?
Sarmiento: INTERPHEX is a great opportunity to meet with existing and potential customers. We saw very strong interest not only for Novelia®, but also for our other drug delivery products like Safe’n’Sound®, a safety device for prefilled syringes, and our line of pumps and valves.
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