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New pharmaceutical packages protect proteins and prevent counterfeiting

Biopharmaceuticals present challenges for packaging. Here’s a preview of some new technologies to watch for at interpack 2014.

Quality control: Since glass vials are often filled with aggressive medicinal products, they are subjected to precise checks beforehand. (Photo: Schott PP/Jan Siefke)
Quality control: Since glass vials are often filled with aggressive medicinal products, they are subjected to precise checks beforehand. (Photo: Schott PP/Jan Siefke)

The medicinal products market is changing. Sensitive biopharmaceuticals require more robust packages. Counterfeiting has to be prevented with special seals and codes. And additional package features are necessary so that patients can safely administer medication themselves. Pharmaceutical companies and the packaging sector are faced with huge challenges.

When the medicinal products market was still dominated by blockbuster medicines, the pharmaceutical companies had it easy: they developed active substances that could be used to treat a large number of patients and produced medicines against widespread ailments such as high blood pressure and diabetes by the millions in standardized mass processes. The big multinationals thus earned billions year after year.

But times are changing. “The market for biopharmaceuticals with selective action and greater potency is growing in importance. Scientists are delving ever deeper into biochemistry and identifying new goals,” explains Klaus Raith of the German Pharmaceuticals Society.

Visiogain, the British market research company, confirms this trend. According to its findings, annual sales of biopharmaceuticals are currently experiencing double-digit growth and a continuing rise is forecast for the next 10 years. This is forcing pharmaceutical companies to adapt. Some biomolecules readily decompose, while others are highly aggressive and attack the surfaces of primary packages. Containers with improved barrier properties and enhanced impact resistance are therefore required in order to reliably protect precious biosubstances. More flexible production processes are also called for, capable of precisely dosing even the tiniest quantities of active substance.

At the same time, makers of pharmaceuticals have to better safeguard their medicines against counterfeiting. Under the new EU Anti-Falsification Directive, virtually all prescription medicines will have to be provided, as of 2017, with a unique code number and a feature showing that there has not been tampering of the outer package.

Counterfeit pharmaceuticals are becoming a growing hazard for patients. According to studies by the World Health Organization, the counterfeiting rate among medicines sold via dubious websites is already 50%. The customs authority puts the share of counterfeits in Europe at 10%. No one is safe from product counterfeiting. Fake and watered-down pharmaceuticals can be found not just in the lifestyle segment, but across all segment all the way to influenza medications.

The patient is king

Issues like self-medication and user safety are becoming increasingly important. Injections that only doctors used to give can now be self-administered by patients. To prevent injury, inbuilt safety needles retract immediately after injection. The packages of the future will be even more versatile.

The Finnish-Swedish packaging manufacturer Stora Enso and Göteborg’s Chalmers University of Technology, for example, are developing an intelligent package designed to simplify communication between patients and doctors. The package records precisely when a tablet is removed. If the doctor’s prescription is not observed, the patient receives a wireless reminder—sent to a mobile phone, for instance. Such consumer-friendly solutions demand a difficult balancing act from pharmaceuticals manufacturers, which have to integrate extra features while also keeping costs under control.

LAST CHANCE TO SAVE! New Tech for Life Sciences at PACK EXPO Southeast
The exciting new PACK EXPO Southeast 2025 unites all vertical markets in one dynamic hub, generating more innovative answers to packaging challenges for life sciences products. Don’t miss this extraordinary opportunity for your business!
REGISTER ASAP FOR $30!
LAST CHANCE TO SAVE! New Tech for Life Sciences at PACK EXPO Southeast