The role of packaging in pharmaceuticals has taken an incremental leap forward in terms of its critical importance as an integral part of the product. New packaging solutions will focus more on drug safety by controlling microbial growth, delaying oxidation, improving tamper visibility and enhancing convenience according to a recent report from iRAP.

Packaging in the pharmaceutical industry has gone through major changes in the past decade. The advent of new drug delivery systems and the development of new biochemical compounds have resulted in a need not only for enhanced protection against factors such as moisture, light, oxygen, and mechanical forces, but also for packaging forms to play a more integral role in the drug delivery process. Packaging design today provides stability and shelf life to the drug and the delivery system, which becomes fundamental to the safety, convenience, and compliance of drug use, the report adds

Child-resistant, senior-friendly, and dispensing closures will lead global market growth for pharmaceutical closures and accessories. Demand for closures, labels, tamper-evident, and anti-counterfeiting accessories will come from stricter government and industry standards, says the report.

In the meanwhile according to a healthcare forecasting report published in in Packaging World Magazine last year , North America is the world’s largest market for flexible packaging in pharmaceutical products, with France representing the most sizeable market in Europe, followed by the U.K. and Germany. While western European markets are continuing to grow, the major growth opportunities lie in central and eastern Europe, the report adds.

The following were the factors listed for growth
● Rising demand for child-resistant and tamper-evident packaging.
● In most advanced countries, safety concerns and changes in regulations have led to a growing requirement for better patient information and dose control (original pack dispensing).
● In the OTC market, competition between brands creates a requirement for eye-catching packaging, which tends to be more elaborate and expensive.
● Despite mounting resistance to polyvinyl chloride in Europe and North America, legislation and approval procedures frustrate the emergence of substitutes, and no other material equals PVC’s optical clarity, flexibility and low toxicity.
● Flexible packaging has a low share of the medical packaging market; the supply is highly specialized, and suppliers are slow to change packaging methods. Pack users and specifiers exercise great caution, as regulations stipulate lengthy and strict approval procedures for pack designs and materials.

The report further adds while flexi packaging for pharmaceutical and medical products is 6.6 per cent of all consumer flexible packaging volume in 2009 and is forecast to be seven percent in 2014. Asia-Pacific is the largest market for flexible packaging of pharmaceutical and medical products, followed by North America.” Western Europe and North America have the lowest forecast Compound Annual Growth Rates (CAGRs) for this period, with the highest in the developing regions of Asia-Pacific, central and eastern Europe, South America, and Central America.

Another study, “The Future of Global Rigid Plastic Packaging—end-use markets,” provides many similar market overview points as the flexibles report, but it refers to packages such as bottles, jars, and blisters. “Packaging developments in these markets tend to be slow because of the extended time required to gain approvals,” says this report. “The original product license normally includes the packaging, and it is unusual for pharmaceutical companies to consider a change of packaging unless there is a change in product formulation [or] a major marketing benefit in terms of on-shelf appeal or convenience for OTC medicines.”

The report had forecast that in 2010, packagers of healthcare products would continue to operate in an environment of economic concerns, patent protection issues, and an evolving regulatory landscape.

“The continuing high price of medicines in the U.S. has major implications for the distribution system as price-conscious individuals and employers seek strategies to obtain cheaper products,”

During the darkest days of the recession, pharmaceutical and healthcare-related firms had announced lay-offs that numbered in the thousands, with packaging positions caught in the downsizing. Although several economic pundits have dubbed this, “a jobless recovery,” that’s not necessarily true in the healthcare sector.

“2010 will be very different from 2009 in the area of employment. While 2009 will be remembered for the recession and unemployment hovering near double digits, that trend is turning around fast in the healthcare packaging world,” says a certified personnel consultant of a recruiting firm that specializes in plastics and packaging.

According to him “We’ve had 21 recessions in the U.S. since 1900, including four since 1980, and the employment pattern is fairly predictable. The first couple of quarters, everyone focuses on cost cutting, which will include a hiring freeze and possibly lay-offs. Then companies realize two things: First, that it is a reasonable survival plan but not a sustainable business model; and second, there will be an expansion phase and there is nothing a CEO fears more than not being in position to capture market share during a recovery”.

“Since the healthcare industry is less sensitive to economic cycles than the overall economy, this employment pattern is accelerated in areas such as pharmaceutical and MDM [medical device manufacturing] packaging.

“Experienced packaging design engineers will continue to be in demand, driven by increasingly customized designs, automated packaging processes, and the wide range of materials now being used in healthcare packaging”.

“Universities are increasingly taking note of the need for skilled healthcare packaging professionals,” he says and adds “Several schools offer programs in packaging science and courses in medical packaging, including Michigan State and the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)”.

Beyond jobs, another hot-button issue in the healthcare packaging space concerns the growing number of drugs switching from prescription-only to over-the-counter products. As patents expire on successful drugs, private-label and generic competitors battle with original drug manufacturers for a piece of the economic pie. Such switches can push expiration dates further into the future and trigger innovation in product packaging as manufacturers address package design, labelling, validation, regulatory requirements and other issues.

Pharmaceutical and medical device packaging must not only protect product so it is safe and effective for patient use, but also meet a variety of regulations. And now, as consumers demand more environmentally friendly packaging, healthcare packagers are paying more attention to this growing challenge.

Pharmaceutical and medical device packaging fit into an industry association-sponsored educational effort, “The Responsible Package,” that touts the benefits of paper, paperboard, and corrugated. It is estimated that more than 200,000 tonnes of paper-based packaging material, mostly solid bleached sulphate

(SBS) paperboard, is utilized for individual packages of pharmaceutical and medical products.

In his “Pharmaceutical Packaging Handbook,” 2006 Packaging Hall of Fame inductee Edward J. Bauer had pointed out that compliance or adherence to drug regimens, unit-dose packaging, reimbursement for pharmaceuticals, and material advances as key pharmaceutical packaging issues.

“There are plenty of issues facing pharmaceutical packaging. They range from materials to delivery methods. They require packaging improvements and the development of new packaging. They are problems that will take years to solve”, Bauer had concluded.