Pharmaceutical packaging is the critical stage of the drug manufacturing process. Its primary purpose is to maintain the drug’s properties until it reaches its intended user. It protects the drug from damaging external factors such as Human mishandling, counterfeiting, and tempering that could affect its properties. It maintains its efficacy throughout different stages of a drug supply chain, such as sampling, transportation, and storage. It also protects and possesses properties against various environmental factors such as Heat, Dust, and Moisture.
Regulatory bodies worldwide have special regulations for pharma packaging, and they keenly inspect the packaging practices of a pharmaceutical company during their routine inspections. They inspect to see whether the company has invested enough in quality packaging machinery, and the packaging processes are according to approved regulations. If the regulatory bodies find any major non-conformance in a pharma company’s packaging practices, it can result in a warning, fines, or complete shutdown of operations.
As with other pharmaceutical sectors, the packaging also witnessed new trends and innovation. The use of advanced engineering techniques such as Automation, improved mechanical design, and software solutions are the main building blocks behind the innovation.
Drivers of new Trends in Pharma Packaging
New trends in the Pharmaceutical sector is not overnight, but it is the result of tireless efforts of different experts to achieve improvements. These improvements pave the way for new trends. Some factors that have contributed significantly to packaging include the following.
· Research: Constant research in different areas of pharma packaging such as pharma packaging materials, engineering design has helped in creating new designs.
· Learning from past experiences
· Desire for improvement
Advantages of Innovation and New Trends
There are many advantages of new trends that have benefitted both the manufacturers and patients. Let’s look at some benefits of recent trends in pharmaceutical packaging.
Cost effective: It has enabled the manufacturers to increase their production capacities with fewer resources and less time. This helps to compete with their competitors and increases their market share. Similarly, patients also benefit by having low-cost medicines and drugs.
Reduced Operating Cost: It also results in reduced operating costs which is the most crucial benefit. New energy-efficient machines consume fewer energy resources, such as Electricity and Compressed Air, compared to older packaging machines.
Ease in Operation. New packaging machines can be operated with little expertise. It enables the manufacturers to hire manpower without highly technical knowledge and skills. It also eliminates the need for specialized training during commissioning. Manpower with the basic machine and engineering knowledge can be easily trained to operate these machines.
Lower changeover times: Changeover times are critical in every manufacturing process, and they are one of the main reasons for machine downtime. Additionally, they require skillful personnel to carry out changeover successfully, without creating problems for the machine and the operators. New technologies in packaging machines enable the operator to perform machine changeover in less time and at the same time prevent post-changeover problems.
New Trends
Let’s look at some latest trends in pharmaceutical packaging machine.
Blow fill seal (BFS)
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