In a bid to help the pharma industry's anti-counterfeiting efforts, HP has launched the Pharma Black CB935A inkjet cartridge – designed to add high quality printing to tablets and capsules and production advantages over traditional contact printing.

Drug manufacturers remain one of the most vulnerable targets of counterfeiters. Now, HP's Specialty printing Systems (SPS) division has recently added to its portfolio of product identification solutions for the pharmaceutical industry the new HP Pharma Black CB935A Inkjet Print Cartridge – specifically made for printing branding, dosage and security information on individual capsule and tablets.

An extension of SPS's digital solutions expertise, the technology uses FDA-GRAS (generally recognized as safe) ingredients for pharmaceutical applications, and brings the efficiency of non-contact, variable-data printing to pharmaceutical and tablet imprinting processes. 

HP Pharma Black CB935A – part of a range of solutions resented at the recent Interpack 2008 conference in Dusseldorf, Germany – comes in 20ml self-contained cartridges and can print at speeds of up to 500 feet per minute at 150dpi (dots per inch). It can also produce high-quality 600 dpi imaging for precise, uniform printing of variable data, barcodes and logos on various dosage-form shapes. In the healthcare environment, the use of 1-D and 2-D barcodes on tablets and capsules can provide an additional level of product security and customer safety when used in an overall program of dosage monitoring and verification.

The Pharma Black CB935A – which complements HP SPS's existing thermal inkjet (TIJ) technologies – is part of HP's Product Tracking and Authentication (PT&A) solutions suite which provide track-and-trace and authentication capabilities throughout the pharmaceutical supply chain for all product package levels, from unit dose to pallet quantities.

Furthermore, the HP Pharma Black CB935A offers production advantages over traditional contact printing on pills and tablets and has other potential benefits that include:

• Reduced breakage and contamination with non-contact printing
• Reduced maintenance and downtime for increased efficiency and reliability
• Product tracking, anti-counterfeiting and prescription/dosage accuracy through serialization
• Compliance with California e-Pedigree requirements when used with HP's PT&A Solution
• Self-contained cartridges for cleaner maintenance and easy replacement
• Ready-to-use formulation with no solvents to mix or handle

After more than 20 years of digital printing expertise experience, HP has broken new ground in tablet and capsule imprinting with the pharma Black CB935A. According to Kathy Tobin, HP SPS vice president and general manager, "With this solution, HP sets a new standard in reducing costs, meeting expanding market needs, and enabling solutions that exceed heightened security requirements.