Biopharmaceuticals require more demanding packaging

THE medicinal products market is changing. Sensitive biopharmaceuticals require more robust packages. Falsification 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 standardised 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 Deutsche Pharmazeutische Gesellschaft e.V. (German Pharmaceuticals Society).

Tiny seeds of hope: Researchers are working flat out to discover new active substances for better medicines. Crystals lend themselves particularly well to processing into tablets. (Source: Bayer HealthCare AG) 

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 coming ten 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, pharmaceuticals manufacturers have to safeguard their medicines better against falsification. 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 the outer package has not been tampered with. Falsified pharmaceuticals are becoming a growing menace for patients. According to studies by the World Health Organisation, the falsification rate among medicines sold via dubious websites is already 50 per cent. The customs authority puts the share of falsified medicines in Europe at 10 per cent. No one is safe from product falsification. Fake and watered-down pharmaceuticals can be found not just in the lifestyle segment, but right across the range through 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 G?teborg’s Chalmers University of Technology, for example, are devsneakers