Monitoring product integrity of a pharmaceutical product in a vial using a miniaturized electronic sensor tag

1. A package for a pharmaceutical product, said package comprising

a vial;

an electronic tag for obtaining information relating to the integrity of the product as assessed from an exposure of said product to physical or environmental conditions during a time span;

wherein

I) said tag is attached at or to a constituent of said vial; or

II) at least a portion of said tag is integrated in a constituent of said vial;

and wherein said tag comprises an electronics unit comprising

a control unit;

a sensor unit comprising at least one sensor for monitoring said physical or environmental conditions;

a display unit comprising a display for displaying data relating to said integrity referred to as status data;

a switch;

wherein said control unit is structured and configured for effecting that said display unit displays said status data in reaction to an operation of said switch; and,

wherein the tag comprises a rip strip comprising a breakable electrical connection operationally connected to said control unit.

2. The package according to claim 1 , wherein said constituent of said vial is at least one of

a vial body of the vial;

a closure of the vial;

a part of a closure of the vial;

a seal of the vial;

a cap of the vial.

3. The package according to claim 1 , wherein a housing of said tag is integrated in said constituent of said vial.

4. The package according to claim 1 , wherein the tag is attached to or at said constituent of the vial, and wherein at least a portion of said constituent of the vial is at least partially encompassed by the tag or by a constituent of the tag.

5. The package according to claim 3 , wherein said housing and said constituent of said vial are integrally formed.

6. The package according to claim 1 , wherein the tag comprises a housing comprising a first and a second housing portion which are mutually attachable by establishing a snap fit with one another.

7. The package according to claim 1 , wherein a breaking of said breakable electrical connection indicates the end of said time span or the beginning of said time span.

8. The package according to claim 7 , wherein said rip strip is attached to or fixed at a vial body of the vial.

9. The package according to claim 1 , wherein said display unit comprises one or more light emitters for emitting light pulses, and wherein said status data is encoded in a sequence of light pulses emitted by said one or more light emitters.

10. A packaged pharmaceutical product, comprising a package according to claim 1 and said pharmaceutical product, wherein said pharmaceutical product is contained in a vial body of said vial.

11. A method for monitoring an integrity of a pharmaceutical product, the method comprising the steps of

a) providing a vial;

b) providing

I) an electronic tag attached at or to a constituent of said vial; or

II) an electronic tag at least a portion of which is integrated in the constituent of said vial;

said vial comprising a vial body, said vial body containing said pharmaceutical product;

said tag being a tag for obtaining information relating to the integrity of said product as assessed from an exposure of said product to physical or environmental conditions during a time span, the tag comprising an electronics unit comprising

a control unit;

a sensor unit comprising at least one sensor for monitoring said physical or environmental conditions;

a display unit comprising a display for displaying data relating to said integrity referred to as status data;

a switch;

wherein said control unit is structured and configured for effecting that said display unit displays said status data in reaction to an operation of said switch; and, wherein said tag comprises a rip strip comprising a breakable electrical connection operationally connected to said control unit.