Cold chain products are increasingly being adopted in the pharmaceutical industry. These products offer unique therapeutic effects to modern-day challenges and diseases. The main requirements for these products is dedicated packaging solutions known as Cold Chain Packaging. These types of packaging can protect the product from the outside environment and maintain its design temperatures.
Cold chain packaging is becoming the norm in the pharmaceutical industry due to the industry's recent interest in innovative products such as vaccines and biotech. Cold Chain provides pharmaceutical manufacturers with a reliable option for safely delivering the product to their end-users.
What is Cold Chain Packaging
Cold Chain packaging is a specialized type capable of maintaining the inside temperature at specific levels, irrespective of the outside temperature. It protects the inside product from temperature deviations and extreme levels and keeps it at acceptable levels. Cold chain packaging is used for temperature-sensitive products that can become damaged or ineffective if specific temperature conditions are not maintained.
When delivering cold-chain drugs, the product is constantly prone to out-of-specification temperature ranges, which can be very dangerous. Cold-chain packaging provides pharmaceutical product manufacturers with an option to isolate the product from outside temperature and maintain specified ranges that can ensure product safety and quality.
For example, certain vaccines require 2°C to 8°C during their entire product life cycle. This range is often and easily maintained in the manufacturer's facility and storage. However, as soon as the vaccine leaves the facility, the outside temperature is not in this range, especially in summer or hot regions. To tackle this issue, pharmaceutical manufacturers use cold chain packaging that is capable of maintaining the vaccines in the specified range once kept at those values.
Types of Cold Chain Packaging
Different types of cold chain packaging are designed for particular applications and storage requirements. However, they are broadly categorized into Active and Passive.
Active cold chain packaging
Active cold chain packaging uses energy to power electrical and/or mechanical components, which in turn controls & maintains the temperature. These types of packaging constantly require an energy source. If an energy source is not available or if it shuts down beyond the acceptable limits, the cold chain packaging will be unable to retain the desired temperatures.
During transportation, they are plugged into a carrier power source, such as a ship, to fulfil the power requirements.
An example of active packaging is a refrigerated container, which uses refrigerant gas to control the temperature inside the container. The power to the refrigerator is provided by utilizing the logistics source. These containers are commonly used when transportation takes more time and any passive solution is not able to fulfil the cold chain requirements.
Passive cold chain packaging
Passive cold chain packaging does use electrical or mechanical temperature control units that requires energy source to operate. Instead, they use phase change materials to keep temperatures low. Some types of passive cold chain packaging include, but are not limited to
· Insulated Shipper: These cold chain packaging solutions are containers made of insulated material that can retain temperature values within the specified time and range. Their construction provides thermal insulation and prevents temperature fluctuations.
· Gel packs – These packs are water-based packaging solutions commonly used for frozen, refrigerated, or room-temperature products. Gel packs can absorb heat, preventing the inside product from the effects of high tempe...
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