{"id":3235,"date":"2015-10-16T08:00:41","date_gmt":"2015-10-16T14:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ulprospector.com\/knowledge\/?p=3235"},"modified":"2022-04-08T12:25:50","modified_gmt":"2022-04-08T18:25:50","slug":"pe-market-forces-driving-pharma-packaging-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/3235\/pe-market-forces-driving-pharma-packaging-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"Market Forces Driving Pharma Packaging Changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Strategic moves by a pair of German pharmaceutical packaging giants are shedding light on drug packaging trends related to bottles<\/a> vs. blisters<\/a> and glass<\/a> vs. plastic syringes<\/a>. And such trends are worth watching for a global pharma packaging sector that Freedonia Group projects will grow by 6.5 percent annually to more than $101 billion in 2019.<\/p>\n

Uhlmann Group<\/a>, long established as a king of blister packaging machinery, at the recent Pack Expo Las Vegas trade show was promoting, of all things, a compact bottle-filling machine \u2013 or \u201cmodular Integrated Bottle Packaging Center,\u201d dubbed the IBC 120 \u2013 for solid-dose products.<\/p>\n

And separately, Gerresheimer Group<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 traditionally best known as a maker of glass containers for the pharma and cosmetics sectors \u2013 continues to push strongly into plastics, particularly cyclic\u00a0olefin polymers<\/a> (COP) for prefillable syringes.<\/p>\n

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Neither Uhlmann\u2019s interest in bottles nor Gerresheimer\u2019s in plastics packaging is new, of course, but their increased emphasis on what, for them, is not traditional technology, is noteworthy and reflects some interesting trends in their respective sectors.<\/p>\n

Uhlmann\u2019s U.S. arm \u2013 Uhlmann Packaging Systems LP in Towaco, N.J. \u2013 does business in the one major developed market that favors pill bottles <\/a>over flexible blister packaging for pharmaceuticals. Estimates place the split in the U.S. for pharma packaging at roughly 80 percent bottles and 20 percent blister.<\/p>\n

\"Sabri
Uhlmann sales manager Sabri Demirel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sabri Demirel is sales manager for the U.S. firm. He declares that Uhlmann, which has supplied equipment to the pharma industry for more than 65 years, is still the blister king, but noted that there is also\u00a0potential in the bottle sector. He said in a recent phone interview that when Uhlmann looks at the Rx bottle packaging industry, it sees a business that has changed little in the past 40-50 years \u2013 it\u2019s machine conveyor after machine conveyor, nothing more, nothing less.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe looked at it and said, \u2018There must be better ways of doing this.\u2019 So we developed an integrated system, because it\u2019s all about efficiency and cleanability these days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Uhlmann\u2019s new IBC 120 \u2013 which can package small- to medium-sized batches at a rate of up to 150 bottles, or 24,000 tablets or capsules, per minute \u2013 has no conveyors. It processes round, rectangular and oval bottles measuring 45-200 millimeters in height and 25-125 mm in diameter, and in between batches, can be reset to a different bottle diameter in just six minutes. Its monoblock design also is very compact, at barely five meters in length.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Uhlmann IBC 120 is a compact bottle-filling machine that can package small to medium-sized batches at a rate of up to 150 bottles, or 24,000 tablets or capsules per minute.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The IBC 120 integrates the most important functions related to packaging solid doses in a bottle, according to Demirel. It fills the product, as well as the dessicant and the cotton, then closes the cap and releases the bottle. It\u2019s 100 percent secure, he said, and also is easier to clean and simpler for machine operators to learn how to operate. This is Uhlmann\u2019s second bottling machine, after the IBC 240, a continuous packaging system that can process 240 bottles, or 42,000 tablets or capsules, a minute.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor well over 25 years, experts and market watchers predicted the shift from rigid (bottles) to flexible (blister) packaging,\u201d notes Stephen Ervin, a senior consultant with Wilmington, Del.-based Montesino Associates. \u201cTo date, bottles continue to be the preferred package for ethical medicines dispensed as oral solids (tablets and capsules) in the U.S. Speculation continues that someday the shift will happen, Ervin said, but so far, \u201cneither regulators nor the drive for more compliant packaging have \u2018tipped\u2019 that situation toward blisters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ervin also brings up another key issue \u2013 that of original packaging. \u201cPrescription drugs packaged in bottles are typically repackaged two to four times before finally reaching the consumer\u2019s hand,\u201d he said \u2013 think about the pharmacist counting pills into an amber vial at your favorite drug store.\u00a0\u201cNon-U.S. markets remain amazed that the United States does not, for supply safety concerns, insist on \u2018original packaging.\u2019\u00a0While historically the U.S. supply chain has proven to be secure, original packaging does seem to offer a more robust system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gerresheimer, on the other hand, despite its strong glass heritage, is busy touting high-end COP plastic syringes and vials, in part due to the rise in biotechnologically derived drugs. These bio-based pharmaceuticals are some of the most expensive drugs on the market and are highly susceptible to external influences. That makes COP, which is more chemically inert than glass, a desirable primary package. Additionally, COP offers excellent barrier properties, glass-like transparency and superior resistance to breakage.<\/p>\n

\"Tara
Tara Bryce is the sales and business development manager for Gerresheimer’s Medical Systems Division.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tara Bryce, Houston-based sales and business development manager for Gerresheimer\u2019s Medical Systems Division, acknowledged that there are new and changing needs among consumers, and it\u2019s important for firms such as hers to explore new options as regards materials and applications.<\/p>\n

\u201cBio is huge, and due to the sensitivity of bio-based drugs, we\u2019ve found that maybe you do need the plastic packaging. For bio-logics, protein aggregation \u2013 which may or may not be affected by siliconization in syringes \u2013 is a big concern. \u00a0And of course, the there are the issues of glass particulates, delamination and breakage. This is especially of concern in the auto-injector world, where high forces are required to move viscous drugs into the body quickly and easily.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of the factors, Bryce said, \u201cWe\u2019d prefer to be on the leading edge, helping to drive the train of new development\u201d.<\/p>\n

Another important product that is filled into COP syringes is hyaluronic acid, a key constituent of human tissue that performs many different functions. It is used in opthalmics, orthopedics and in cosmetic treatments.<\/p>\n

Gerresheimer, which has a lot of plastic injection molding experience, also notes that one can achieve more exact tolerances via injection molding than by the free-forming process used to make glass syringes. Exact geometries are particularly vital if the syringe is to be used in an auto-injector or something similar. And such geometries also help to reduce the amount of (expensive) drug residue that is left inside the syringe after use.<\/p>\n

As for the glass vs. plastic debate, Ervin states: \u201cMontesino continues to find high-end polymers and plastics that offer superior properties to glass, with less risk of breakage. We expect to see more of this as biotechnology continues to scale in the world of medicines.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so the competition amongst materials and processes in the pharma packaging sector remains as hot as the industry itself.<\/p>\n

Global demand for primary pharmaceutical containers<\/a>, Freedonia estimates, will expand 6.5 percent per year, to more than $64 billion in 2019. Prefillable syringes and parenteral vials will see above-average growth as new injectable therapies developed through biotechnology and other advanced life sciences are introduced into the marketplace. And that will keep firms such as Uhlmann and Gerresheimer, as well as all their competitors, very much on their toes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Strategic moves by a pair of German pharmaceutical packaging giants are shedding light on drug packaging trends related to bottles vs. blisters and glass vs. plastic syringes. And such trends are worth watching for a global pharma packaging sector that … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":3253,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[1244],"class_list":{"0":"post-3235","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-plastics-2","8":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nMarket Forces Driving Pharma Packaging Changes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/3235\/pe-market-forces-driving-pharma-packaging-changes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Market Forces Driving Pharma Packaging Changes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Strategic moves by a pair of German pharmaceutical packaging giants are shedding light on drug packaging trends related to bottles vs. blisters and glass vs. plastic syringes. 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He has broad global experience and for more than 35 years has worked as a journalist, editor-in-chief, publishing executive and key connector of like-minded parties. He has launched successful publications and C-level events on three continents. While with Crain Communications Inc., he oversaw the relaunch of the 100-year-old European Rubber Journal in London and helped to start Urethanes Technology magazine there. \u00a0In 1988 Bob returned to Akron, Ohio, to serve as founding editor of Plastics News, an award-winning, weekly business newspaper. In 2005 he oversaw the editorial launch of the bilingual (Chinese and English) PN China e-newsletter and website. For more than a decade at PN he also held the titles of associate publisher, editorial director and conference director, and most recently served as business development director. A long-time affiliate member of the Industrial Designers Society of America, Bob has organized numerous design-focused events, earned a Personal Recognition Award from IDSA in 2013, and constantly strives to help bridge the gap between the design and manufacturing communities. In 2014 he left Crain and created RC Grace LLC in Akron, Ohio, as a consultancy that aims to help companies to enhance their branding and market presence, find business partners, connect with design resources (here or in Asia), secure funding and advance their growth initiatives. 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