McKesson Forms Alliance with the UK’s Burgopak

February 10, 2009

Community Pharmacist


McKesson RxPak, a division of McKesson Corp. and a leading provider of packaging products and services to pharmaceutical manufacturers and retailers, announced that it has joined forces with Burgopak Ltd., the United Kingdom’s foremost packaging innovator to bring Burgopak’s award-winning pharmaceutical compliance packaging to the United States. 

“McKesson RxPak is proud to be the first U.S. packaging company to provide Burgopak’s award-winning compliance packaging to pharmaceutical manufacturers and health care consumers in the United States,” said Kirk Kaminsky, senior vice president, U.S. Pharmaceutical Packaging, McKesson. “McKesson is committed to delivering solutions that help improve patient health outcomes, and our new licensing agreement with Burgopak can enable us to do this by addressing many of the reasons why consumers are noncompliant when it comes to taking their medication.” 

Burgopak’s pharmaceutical packaging employs a patented design that presents the product in a sliding tray or blister pack. The packaging is simple to handle and the unique design is intended to improve customer and product safety, as well as adherence. According to recent studies, unit-dose blister packaging and other innovative medication packaging can improve refill and adherence rates by 15 to 30 percent, McKesson said.

The UK-based Burgopak will provide McKesson RxPak with the first U.S. state-of-the-art, automated Burgopak manufacturing machine, which is capable of producing more than 20 million units per year. This machine will enable McKesson to speed time to market and lower costs for its pharmaceutical manufacturer and pharmacy customers. Burgopak’s pharmaceutical packaging has won more than a dozen awards, including the prestigious WorldStar 2007 from the World Packaging Organization. 

The global cost of noncompliance is estimated at $177 billion a year, including indirect costs such as lost productivity. This does not account for the loss of life that can occur when people do not take their medications as prescribed, said McKesson.