Drupa 2008, the largest printing equipment exhibition in the world, had new products for the pharmaceutical industry on show from FAG, Xerox, Amcor Flexibles and AVT.
Switzerland-based FAG Graphic Systems unveiled its solution to the problem of ensuring braille in pharmaceutical leaflets is free from mistakes.

The BrailleScan system is capable of reading braille, converting it into plain text and comparing it with the leaflet information inputted by the user, guaranteeing the information is accurately communicated to the patient. This process takes 200ms, allowing the user to check five leaflets per second.

A European Directive requires pharmaceutical manufacturers to express the name of the medicine on the packaging in braille and also make leaflets suitable for the blind and partially sighted available on request.

This, in addition to the moral obligation, makes it vital that pharmaceutical companies ensure the accuracy of their information for blind and partially-sighted patients.