Medicine packaging has to meet a variety of requirements to ensure its safety. It must also convey information about the product and the brand. There are several different types of medicine packaging available on the market. These include bottles, boxes and blister foil packaging.
Bottles
Bottles for pharmaceutical products are produced from a range of different plastics, including PET, LDPE, PP, and HDPE. They come in miniature, small, and large sizes, as well as clear, white, and amber colours. Medicine packaging must be safe for the product, but also for the patient. This includes ensuring that the drug is protected from air/water damage, and that it stays sterile throughout its life.
Traditionally, medicines were housed in bottles that had simple twist or pull-off closures. These bottles made it easy for anyone with a nefarious intent to tamper with them, so child-proof closures are now common.
The cap seal is also the weakest link in any container, so it must be able to withstand pressure that comes from weight placed on it. This is why it is often bonded to the container with an aluminum foil gasket. This ensures that there is no leaking, bursting, or delamination.
Boxes
Medicines come in a wide variety of forms, and their packaging is a big deal. It can protect the medicines from tampering, counterfeiting and even contamination. It can also host a barcode to make inventory management easier, and in some cases, it can provide additional information about the medicine to customers. Some modern medicine packaging solutions also have a unique identifier (UI) that allows wholesalers and pharmacists to cross-reference it with official records in the national medicines verification system.
Pharmaceutical products are among the most potent in the world, and they need to be kept safe from all manner of errors and ineffective storage. This means clear communication, regulation compliance and smart solutions like anti-tamper devices that can detect tampering or falsified product before it becomes an issue.
Lids
When it comes to medicine packaging, lids are an important part of the equation. They keep the contents of the container safe and protect it from the elements during transport. Lids come in a variety of sizes and can include tamper-evident bands or strips to prevent opening without authorization.
They can also be fitted to a number of different types of containers including tubs, open-head pails, and drums. They can be manufactured using a variety of materials including plastic, aluminum, and titanium. The most advanced are induction-sealed lids which use a foil layer to seal the bottle.
Child-resistant lids are an important safety feature on many of today’s medicines, cleaning chemicals, pesticides, and other toxic substances. They slow down children’s ability to open dangerous containers and give parents a little more time to catch them before they ingest something harmful.
Inserts
Pharmaceutical printing package inserts are important documents that patients and healthcare professionals often use to make drug recommendations. They can also be used to educate patients on how to take their medication safely and effectively.
They may include information about how the drug works, its active ingredient or ingredients, dosage strength/forms and instructions for use. They also provide details on black box warnings, which are important safety information about a drug that describes possible serious side effects.
The FDA is working to make the inserts more useful for prescribers and consumers. It plans to require pharmaceutical companies to add a half-page “Highlights” section to the beginning of their inserts that would encapsulate the most important information. The inserts are currently printed in a 7-point type, but the FDA wants them to be at least 8 points. It also wants them to be easier to read.