Pharmaceutical and healthcare products are held to stringent regulatory guidelines. Due to these, manufacturers and suppliers need to be extra cautious at every development step, including packaging. These products must hit specific regulatory benchmarks to qualify for consumer use. The most critical components of packaging design are inherently simple - clean closures, keep the product clean and secure, and ensure labels are legible.
Roles of Pharmaceutical Packaging
The World Health Organization (WHO) has deemed the following as their primary roles for pharmaceutical packaging:
- Containment - The most obvious objective of packaging is the secure containment of the product. Proper packaging allows for efficient storage, transportation, and eventual sale to the patient.
- Shields the Product - In the pharmaceutical industry, the primary function of packaging is to shield the contents from harm that may occur during the processes to get the pharmaceutical agent to the patient. This is the most significant role.
- Product Presentation and Information - Another critical goal of packaging is to ensure information is presented correctly on the shelf or the internet. The packaging should provide helpful information about the product, its contraindications, and its use.
- Promotes Treatment Compliance - Packaging should ensure that the usage of the pharmaceutical compound is as simple as possible and should aim to reduce non-adherence by the patient.
- Consumer Protection - Finally, consumers expect products to work as intended. Dependable packaging is a crucial way to ensure pharmaceuticals are exactly as described.
Types of Pharmaceutical Packaging
Two key types of pharmaceutical packaging exist within the industry. Each has different uses and different reasons for use.
- Primary packaging - This type of packaging comes in direct contact with the product itself. The main goal of this packaging is to protect the product from the environment, and especially against contamination and leaching of product.
- Secondary packaging - This type of packaging surrounds primary packaging and facilitates the handling of smaller products by combining them into a single package.
Pharmaceutical products are some of the most unique products to require packaging, and regulations surrounding this packaging need to be robust and follow stringent guidelines. The most critical roles of drug packaging are containment of the product, presentation of the product, and directions for use of the product being evident on the packaging.
Packaging is essential as it helps in protecting from biological, physical as well as chemical damages. In addition, it is an effective mode of transferring details about the product to the customers. MediZap’s primary and secondary packaging adheres to all important roles, from consumer protection to treatment compliance.