Essel Propack is now developing anti-counterfeit and tamper evident packs to identify spurious products for its laminated plastic tubes used to fill ointments and gels. The company is known to have convinced pharma majors globally to opt for its laminated tubes replacing aluminum versions to package ophthalmic and dermatology formulations.

A range of drugs using laminated tubes are now being used for prescription-driven and over the counter (OTC) drugs. The company has a patent technology for the laminated structures that help resist reaction with the inner layers, thwart penetration of oxygen, UV rays and moisture.

The big advantage of laminated tubes is they are attractively packaged and visibility of contents and is tamper evident, Ashok Goel, vice-chairman & managing director of Essel Propack Ltd, told Pharmabiz in an email.

The laminated tubes have been designed to have convenient dispensing systems that enable ease-of-use and minimum wastage. In ophthalmic applications, it has developed a long-nozzle closure, to facilitate direct dispensing into the eyes. The pain balms have a closure with an applicator-cum-massager. In the case of single use applications, a twist off/pinch off cap and dispenser ensures prescribed volume of the product is doled out at a time.

The emphasis at every stage has been to ensure FDA compliances or equivalent stipulations for the quality of material used. In fact, we are the only tubing company certified under ‘ISO 1538: 2011’ specification for pharma supply standards. Most of Essel’s units are Sedex compliant meeting global majors’ standards, he added.

Multinational drug companies have opted for Essel Propack laminated tubes and prefer to have a uniform format across markets to ensure uninterrupted sales volumes.

In India, Essel has been quite successful tapping orders from pharma sector. It has been thrived in converting leading prescription drugs to laminated tubes covering ointments, medicated creams and gel formulations. In the OTC space, medicated creams are now converted from bottles, aluminum tubes and jars to laminated tubes. India accounts for 15 per cent of Essel sales.

The company is part of the US$ 2.4 billion Essel Group, with turnover of over US$ 350 million which is expected to touch $500 million revenues in a couple of years. While it holds 33 per cent of the oral care market share in laminated tubes it is keen to generate 50 per cent of the sales from non-oral care category. It has 24 advanced production units across in 11 countries at USA, Mexico, Colombia, Poland, Germany, Egypt, Russia, China, Philippines, Indonesia and India. It sells over 6 billion tubes annually.

Goel pointed out that there are a few hiccups to generate sustained growth. These include time consuming validation of tubes, accessing expensive FDA approved raw materials, compelling pharma industry to invest in specific sealing systems required for laminated tubes and seeking faster regulatory approvals for scheduled drugs and product re-registration during a change of packaging.