{"250531":{"#nid":"250531","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Researchers Help Design Easy-to-Open, Child-Resistant Medicine Bottle","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EOpening prescription medicine bottles can be a struggle for individuals with arthritis. When the medicine inside the bottle is supposed to relieve the pain, but opening the bottle causes additional pain, the experience can be even more frustrating.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPfizer Inc. confronted these concerns head-on by working with researchers at the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gtri.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGeorgia Tech Research Institute\u003C\/a\u003E (GTRI) to develop an easy-to-open and child-resistant container and cap to dispense one of its rheumatoid arthritis medicines. The square bottle with round, blue closure recently received the ease-of-use commendation from the U.S. Arthritis Foundation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cA lot of people believe that if a medicine bottle is child resistant, that means it is going to be hard for people with arthritis to open,\u201d said Brad Fain, a GTRI principal research scientist. \u201cWith this project, we\u2019ve been able to debunk that notion and demonstrate that we can find a balance between ease of use and child resistance through quality design work.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGTRI has a history of helping companies evaluate and improve the design of consumer products and currently serves as the independent product testing organization for the U.S. Arthritis Foundation, the Arthritis Society of Canada and Arthritis Australia. For this work, GTRI recruits users to test a variety of consumer products \u2013 medicine bottles, beverage containers, office supplies, medical devices, vehicles and cell phones \u2013 in its Accessibility Evaluation Facility. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIf a product passes GTRI\u2019s rigorous ease-of-use testing, the company that created the product can use the arthritis organization\u2019s logo in its advertisements and on its packaging. Pfizer previously received the U.S. Arthritis Foundation\u2019s ease-of-use commendation for the easy-open cap used on its 120-count bottles of Advil\u00ae tablets, caplets and gel caplets.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPfizer began working with GTRI in early 2011 to develop a container and closure system that was easy to open, child resistant and able to be manufactured on a high-speed production line. Pfizer asked Fain and his team to suggest design features and materials for the bottle and closure system that would make it easier to open than a typical child-resistant prescription bottle.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe helped Pfizer understand the consumer aspects of the medicine bottle and closure design and what would work and not work from the perspective of a user with arthritis,\u201d said Fain.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWearing arthritis simulation gloves designed by GTRI researchers helped packaging engineers at Pfizer understand how arthritis affects a person\u2019s ability to grasp, pinch, turn, lift and twist objects. The gloves reproduce the reduction in functional capacity experienced by persons with arthritis.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen GTRI researchers began proposing bottle and cap possibilities to the company, the cap\u2019s material and the shape of the bottle were important elements to consider, according to Fain. The team suggested coating the cap with a rubber-like thermoplastic elastomer to increase the friction between the cap and hand holding it, and make it easier to grasp and rotate. They also recommended selecting a non-cylindrical container that would be easier to grasp.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cA bottle with flat sides is less likely to rotate in the user\u2019s hand when it\u2019s being grasped, so the user doesn\u2019t need to apply as much force to stabilize the bottle in the hand while turning the cap,\u201d explained Fain.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENext, Fain and his research team instrumented medicine bottles and caps with force sensors and measured the top-down and rotational forces that people with arthritis could comfortably apply. From this data, they determined the maximum allowable force that could be required to push down on the cap and the maximum allowable force that could be required to rotate and remove the cap.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe collected this data because both of these actions \u2013 pushing down on and twisting the cap \u2013 play significant roles in how easy it is for someone with arthritis to be able to open a medicine bottle without experiencing significant pain,\u201d said Fain.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPfizer ultimately selected a square container and round thermoplastic elastomer cap that would meet the force constraints, but still be child resistant. And the data GTRI researchers collected was used as evidence of compliance with the U.S. Arthritis Foundation requirements when Pfizer applied for the ease-of-use commendation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis project demonstrates that Georgia Tech can work with industry, plug directly into a company\u2019s commercialization process and quickly provide the necessary data so that the company can launch a product on-time,\u201d added Fain.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch News\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E177 North Avenue\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAtlanta, Georgia\u0026nbsp; 30332-0181\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations Contacts\u003C\/strong\u003E: John Toon (404-894-6986)(\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jtoon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejtoon@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E) or Lance Wallace (404-407-7280)(\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:lance.wallace@gtri.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Elance.wallace@gtri.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter\u003C\/strong\u003E: Abby Robinson\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) engineers helped Pfizer develop an easy-to-open and child-resistant container and cap to dispense one of its rheumatoid arthritis medicines. The square bottle with round, blue closure recently received the ease-of-use commendation from the U.S. Arthritis Foundation.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech researchers have helped design an easy-to-open medicine bottle for a Pfizer medication."}],"uid":"27303","created_gmt":"2013-11-02 20:21:51","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:15:14","author":"John Toon","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2013-11-05T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2013-11-05T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"250521":{"id":"250521","type":"image","title":"Brad Fain with Medicine Bottle Testing","body":null,"created":"1449243813","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:43:33","changed":"1475894929","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:48:49","alt":"Brad Fain with Medicine Bottle Testing","file":{"fid":"198093","name":"medicine-bottle6.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/medicine-bottle6_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/medicine-bottle6_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1107443,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/medicine-bottle6_0.jpg?itok=-NSIao7W"}},"250511":{"id":"250511","type":"image","title":"Medicine Bottle Testing","body":null,"created":"1449243795","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:43:15","changed":"1475894929","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:48:49","alt":"Medicine Bottle Testing","file":{"fid":"198092","name":"medicine-bottle5.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/medicine-bottle5_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/medicine-bottle5_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":710222,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/medicine-bottle5_0.jpg?itok=GZvtiTgs"}}},"media_ids":["250521","250511"],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"2097","name":"arthritis"},{"id":"35611","name":"Brad Fain"},{"id":"359","name":"disability"},{"id":"416","name":"GTRI"},{"id":"7031","name":"pharmaceutical"},{"id":"78821","name":"pharmaceutical packaging"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71891","name":"Health and Medicine"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJohn Toon\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EResearch News\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jtoon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejtoon@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E(404) 894-6986\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jtoon@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}