The pharmaceutical industry is bracing for setting new standards, in response to varying patient requirements. These new standards have been mainly fueled by advancement and innovation in pharmaceutical industry, and interestingly it is impacting all components of pharmaceutical industry. The latest is the trend of manufacturing patient-specific drugs.
The varying patient needs are shifting focus on manufacturing patient-specific drugs rather than general population-based products. As with the manufacturing, packaging is also shifting its focus in response to latest trends
Packaging for pharma drug products has previously been manufactured to fulfil general-purpose dose requirements. However, since pharma products focus on new challenges, issues, and problems, the packaging sector also join their hands in facilitating them.
Ready to use containers are one of the latest trends; they eliminate the need for on-premises sterilization, increases the capability of a container against contamination and shortens the time to pack.
What is ready-to-use container?
Ready-to-use containers are pre-sterilized (un-filled) containers packed in appropriate packaging material. In contrast to traditional packaging containers, they do not require sterility methods to prevent hazards. They do not require specialized (classified) areas during storage (before filling), since their packaging is suitable to prevent damage.
During manufacturing, packaging and other relevant processes of ready to use containers, strict control of contamination & sterility is maintained, making it safe from all hazards. Additionally, traditional sterilization and sterility methods are not required at during manufacturing process at the pharma facility. For this reason, they can be directly used on filling machines without the need for intermediate steps and operations, including the washing and depyrogenation process.
Ready-to-use containers are physically packed in a packaging called Nests. It contains a specific number of containers in it. For this purpose, the filling machines are designed with specialized input feed to accept the nests. The filling machine automatically collects individual container without human intervention.
During the filling operation, the nest is collectively fed into the machine, which automatically picks up the individual container and fills the required pharma product in it. This is equivalent to same process with the traditional filling machines where containers are added in a tray.
Ready-to-use containers allow pharma drug manufacturers to quickly respond to changing supply demands due to less inherit time.
Eliminating intermediate steps during product manufacturing, means that the area and equipment for these processes are also not required at the pharma drug manufacturer's location. Time is also reduced since containers are directly fed to the filling machine, which is the major driver towards less time to market, which we will discuss later in this article
The conventional and old method has been delivering un-filled containers to the filling departments of a pharma manufacturer, where they undergo a series of steps, as mentioned above, for the product's safety, integrity and quality. These intermediate steps require a lot of resources, such as testing, equipment, personnel, area and time to execute, ultimately adding to the cost of the product.
Types of ready-to-use containers in the pharmaceutical industry
Ready-to-use container technology is currently being implemented for sterile products such as injectable. Containers used in injectable are presently being produced through this technology.
Let's discuss some products available under this category.
Ready to Use Vials
Ready-to-use vials include vials, rubber stoppers and pre-sterilized seals and are directly fed to the filling machines. Commonly, they can be custom-manufactured depending on the customer's demands. This means they can suit the customer's product requirement, even if the dosage is in non-standardized volume and...
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