Pharma packaging industry is now increasing its attention on curbing counterfeits and is now working to adhere to the standards of authentication solutions. There are also several advanced concepts being developed like barrier containers for hydroscopic products to prevent entry of sensitive to light and oxygen into the containers which pack pharmaceuticals.

Since counterfeit products plagues industry, it calls for review of authentication solutions from time to time, said industry officials from Micro Lab, Bal Pharma and Biocon Limited.

This is where the Union government’s trace and track technologies where bar coding implementation on not just primacy packaging but also on the secondary packaging has been mandated. While the primary pharma packaging for exports came into effect from January 1, 2013, the bar coding on primary packing will come into effect from July 1, 2013, as per the current schedule. The ultimate goal is to implement the track and trace system also in the domestic sector, said industry officials.

There are major efforts by Indian packaging industry which are developing novel pharmaceutical packaging concepts designed to address environmental concerns said Vimal Kedia, Managing director, Manjushree Technopack Ltd. and the chairman, of the Indian Institute of Packaging, Bengaluru, sharing his views on the latest packaging offerings from Manjushree for the pharma sector

The sixth IIP in the country in Karnataka is now coming up in Nelamangala, Sompura Industrial Area of Bengaluru. This indicates the importance of pharma packing. “We need to increasing awareness about the importance of packaging in India and expanding the export market, by way of initiatives in fields like innovative package design and development, and standardization,” he added.

IIP is the apex industry body for packaging in India working to commence training during this academic year. These will be a two- year post graduate diploma course in packaging, 18 months of distance education in packaging, three months of ITC (intensive training course) in packaging besides, short-term residential courses Union government facilitated exchange programmes with Africa, Sri Lanka etc.

There will be laboratory to test packaging material and finished packages. The IIP Bangalore Centre will also play host to the National Packaging Exhibition, INDPACK, and the National Conference on Packaging, in 2014.

The Institute currently has centres in Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Kolkata. It also overlooks all activities related to packaging like testing and quality certification, training and education, consultancy services on packaging standardization, formulation of packaging specification, cost reduction and so on.

The Institute is closely associated with international bodies like the World Packaging Organization (WPO), Asian Packaging Federation (APF), International Trade Centre (ITC),Geneva and has been working for the overall growth and development of packaging globally, said Kedia.

Keeping pace with the growing development, Manjushree too has recently introduced various new concepts for pharmaceutical packaging. Most of the packaging solutions offered for the pharma industry are related to offering barrier containers for hydroscopic products. There are many liquid formulations which are sensitive to light and oxygen, for which Manjushree has worked with its raw material supplier and developed a barrier solution suitable for PET bottles. These PET bottles offer a very low OTR (Oxygen Transmission Rate) and WVTR (Water Vapour Transmission Rate) values and are ideal for sensitive products, he said.

Apart from this,Manjushree has also actively participated in development of a bottle with a barrier which is suitable for packing tablets for regulated markets. These bottles are branded as ‘Medipac Barrier Containers’ and provide excellent oxygen and moisture barrier properties for packing bulk packs. These containers can be offered with Child Resistant Closures (CRC) for further tamper proofing. The company works with a large number of clients such as Micro Labs, Medrich, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Himalaya Healthcare, Dr. Reddy’s and many other private pharmaceutical companies.

The visible trends in the pharma packaging space are that now with regulatory requirements becoming more stringent for both domestic and international markets, the visible trend is to supply high quality packaging material manufactured under the most stringent clean room environment and using best manufacturing practices. Apart from quality, other functional trends include tamper proof closures, transparent declarations on the labels and environment friendly packaging, said Kedia.

Providing a snapshot of the sector, he said that the pharma sector in India is the world’s third largest in terms of volume and among the top 20 in terms of value. The total size of pharma sector in India is close to Rs.75,000 crores of which there is a sizeable scale of exports which amounts to Rs.50,000 crores. The pharma industry is growing at a very fast pace at 30 per cent growth YOY. Apart from this India’s Bio-Pharmaceutical Industry is growing at 20 per cent per annum which constitutes revenue worth Rs.17,000 crores. The top companies in the sector are Ranbaxy, Dr. Reddy’s, Lupine, Aurobindo Pharma, Sun Pharmaceuticals, etc. “This makes packaging industry growth dependent on the progress of the drug manufacturing,” he said.

To a certain extent the pharma industry has faced challenges of commoditization and the same is the case with suppliers of packaging materials. The products like PET bottles for the domestic industry has become extremely competitive and face the competition from unorganized sector where manufacturing practices are questionable. Unlike the US FDA, there is no binding regulatory authority in India to design and execute the strict laws against unethical practices. If a central body exists, it could elevate required standards and make the industry’s image more creditable, said Kedia.

Even the Union Budget of 2013 did not make any large scale impact on the packaging industry. We were eagerly looking forward to the implementation of GST which could have made our transactions and day-to-day accounting simpler. Also, there were no significant announcements about establishing food processing parks which is the need of the hour today. Almost 30 – 40 per cent of our agricultural production is discarded due to non-availability of processing industries.

Hopefully the government will take measures to cut this in the near future, he pointed out.