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World-class glass tubing for pharmaceuticals 100 Years of SCHOTT Fiolax

This year, the SCHOTT technology group will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of SCHOTT Fiolax, its pharmaceutical glass tubing brand.

Since it was first developed by the company's founder, Otto Schott, and introduced to the market in 1911, Fiolax special glass tubing has remained the benchmark product for high-quality primary pharmaceutical packaging.

“Manufacturing high-quality special glass tubing for the pharmaceutical industry and biotechnology is one of our main fields of expertise and a core business at SCHOTT,” says Prof. Udo Ungeheuer, Chairman of the Board of Management of SCHOTT AG. “Our Fiolax pharmaceutical tubing is the world's most frequently used material for manufacturing primary pharmaceutical packaging. With Fiolax, we offer pharmaceutical packaging companies a premium product that meets the highest quality standards worldwide.”

Manufactured on the basis of over 125 years of experience in working with special glass materials and production technology, SCHOTT Fiolax pharmaceutical glass tubing is known for its extremely high cosmetic and geometric quality. This translates into the lowest possible glass defect rates and precisely shaped manufacturing with narrow geometric tolerances. In addition, SCHOTT Fiolax is very durable and resistant to mechanical effects. This high product quality enables customers of SCHOTT to benefit from good, cost-effective automated processing with stable processes, high production speed, high yield and a very low reject rate. With SCHOTT Fiolax special glass tubing as the raw material, manufacturers of primary pharmaceutical packaging are able to produce high-quality syringes, cartridges, vials and ampoules for the pharmaceutical industry.

SCHOTT Fiolax is a borosilicate glass that has been optimized specifically for use in pharmaceutical packaging and is known for its high chemical resistance. It can be sterilized rather easily and features excellent barrier properties for sensitive drugs. Because of its low alkali content and optional UV protection, it preserves a medicine's effectiveness for many years to come. Fiolax is therefore extremely well suited for being processed into packaging materials for use in biotechnology.

“Quality is of vital importance to both manufacturers of pharmaceutical packaging and pharmaceutical companies,” explains Jürgen Achatz, Sales Director for Pharmaceutical Tubing. “Therefore, as the quality leader, we are constantly working to further improve the geometric and cosmetic properties of our Fiolax glass tubing. We also work closely with our customers to improve the quality and efficiency of the subsequent steps of the value creation chain.”

To meet the quality requirements, SCHOTT developed an information and tracking system for Fiolax glass tubing that offers customers precise information on important manufacturing, material and quality parameters for a given batch. This means all of the details of a production process can be tracked for a period of ten years from the date of manufacturing all the way to the final glass tubing.

SCHOTT Fiolax is more than a top product and a premium brand. With the “Fiolax Academy,” SCHOTT also offers its partners in the pharmaceutical industry a complete technical/scientific customer advisory service along the value creation chain. In special training programs, experts who work for the technology group provide information on the composition, properties and production of pharmaceutical glass tubing. Special topics like drug-container interaction, adsorption, chemical resistance and the stability of packaging and freeze-drying (lyophilization) of certain pharmaceutical agents are also covered. Similarly, international regulations and standards for the pharmaceutical industry are also discussed at the “Fiolax Academy.”

SCHOTT manufactures Fiolax pharmaceutical glass tubing in Germany, Spain, Brazil and India. Thanks to its uniform worldwide quality standards on manufacturing, SCHOTT is always able to provide its customers with products of the same high quality from various sites. Each year, SCHOTT manufactures around one million kilometers of pharmaceutical tubing - that is 25 times the circumference of the earth.
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