APhA Policy Manual

Unit-of-Use Packaging

1. APhA supports development, distribution, and use of unit-of-use packaging as the pharmaceutical industry standard to enhance patient safety, patient adherence, drug distribution efficiencies, and Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) regulations.
2. APhA encourages collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry, repackagers, third-party payers, and appropriate federal agencies to effect the changes necessary for the adoption of unit-of-use packaging as the industry standard.
3. APhA supports the enactment of laws, regulations, and policies to permit pharmacists to modify prescribed quantities to correspond with commercially available unit-of-use packages.

Drug Product Packaging

1. APhA supports the role of the pharmacist to select appropriate drug product packaging.
2. APhA supports the pharmaceutical industry’s performance of compatibility and stability testing of drug products in officially defined containers to assist pharmacist selection of appropriate drug product packaging.
3. APhA supports the value of unit-of-use packaging to enhance patient care but recognizes that product and patient needs may preclude its use.
4. APhA encourages the pharmaceutical industry to ensure that all unit-of-use packaging will accommodate a standard pharmacy label.

Drug Product Packaging.

APhA supports the use of tamper-evident packaging on pharmaceutical products throughout the supply chain before dispensing to reduce the potential of counterfeit and/or adulterated medications reaching patients.

Medication Verification

APhA encourages including a description of a medication’s appearance on the pharmacy label or receipt as a means of reducing medication errors and distribution of counterfeit medications.

Single-Dose Containers for Parenteral Use

APhA supports packaging all drugs intended for parenteral use in humans in single-dose containers, except where clearly not feasible.