Due to intrinsic and extrinsic advantages, blister packs have surpassed plastic bottles as the largest-selling group of pharmaceutical packaging products worldwide. Advantages involving patient medication compliance, institutional drug distribution efficiency, barrier protection, child resistance and marketing appeal are expected to broaden growth opportunities for pharmaceutical blister packs.
Combined global demand for these containers will grow 6.4 per cent annually to $5 billion in 2007.
Western Europe is the biggest market for blister packs due to EU standards requiring use in directly dispensed prescription drugs. Such requirements are yet to be adopted by the US FDA. Demand for blister packs in China and India are advancing rapidly.
Blister packs incorporate a relatively complex structure consisting of two or more components. These components are sold separately, with the finished container filled and assembled internally by end users or contract packaging firms on high-speed equipment. The most widely employed pharmaceutical blister pack consists of a multiple- compartment thermoformed plastic film sealed to a flat backing made from one or more materials. Each compartment is designed to hold a unit dose of medication.
Blister films serving pharmaceutical applications typically consist of two or more layers. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is the most widely used resin for the core layer based on cost, performance and processing advantages. PVC is less prone to cause variances in the finished package than other high barrier resins.