Pharmaceutical Packing Material

1. PHARMACEUTICAL PACKING
By: Shreeharsh Sharma
Pharmaceutical Quality Assurance
0001PY23MP20

2. What is Packing
Packing is the science, art and technology of
enclosing or protecting product for distribution,
storage, sale and use.
Pharmaceutical packing can be defined as the
economical mean of providing presentation,
protection, identification, information,
convenience, compliance, integrity and stability
of the product.

3. Ideal Qualities of a Pharmaceutical
Packing Material
• It should have sufficient mechanical strength as to withstand handling.
• It should not react with the content stored in it.
• It should not leach alkali in the content.
• The container must bear heat when it is to be sterilized.
• The material used for making the container should be inert or neutral.
• Closure should be of non toxic nature and chemically stable with
container content.
• It should be economical.
• Shape should be elegant which allow easy withdrawal of content

4. Types of Packing
Primary Packing Secondary Packing Tertiary Packing

5. Types of Packing
Primary Packing
➢ Primary pharmaceutical packaging is used in direct contact with the
product to protect its chemical composition.
➢ First layer of protection.
➢ This type of packaging is often intended for the end user or consumer.
➢ Eg:- Vials & ampoules for parentrals, Blister Packing for tablets.

6. Types of Packing
Secondary Packing
➢ The main purpose of secondary packaging is for brand awareness as well the display and
handling of products.
➢ Secondary packaging is used to protect the primary packaging. A glass vial wouldn’t last
long if packed directly into a shipping.
➢ All the important information is printed on these boxes, like ingredients, manufacturer’s
name, address, warning, and type of medicine.

7. Types of Packing
Tertiary Packing
➢ The main objective of tertiary packaging is safeguarding primary and
secondary packaging from the external environment during storage and
transportation.
➢ The end consumers don’t see this packaging. The retailers often remove
them before they showcase the medicines in their shops or clinics.
➢ The most popular tertiary packaging are plane boxes, cardboards, and
shrink wraps.

8. Strip Packing
Droppers
Tubes
Vials
Blister
Packing
Ampoules
In this the contents are
sealed in a packet. The
Package is made up of two
layers of film. A strip
containing many pockets
and each pocket contains
single dose of medicament.
Strip Packing

9. Strip
Packing
Droppers
Tubes
Vials
Blister Packing
Ampoules
It is made up of base layer (PVC
layer) with cavities which contain
Pharmaceutical product. This type
of Package provides greater
protection than strip package. The
lid is made up of aluminium or
paper foil. The package is sealed by
combining lid and base with the
application of heat and pressure.
Blister Packing

10. Strip
Packing
Droppers
Tubes
Vials
Blister
Packing
Ampoules
An ampoule is a small glass or
plastic container used for
packaging liquid drugs. These are
sealed vials generally used to
protect drugs from the air and
other contamination. They are
sealed by melting the top with
flame. Notably, glass ampoules are
expensive when compared to other
types of packaging.
Ampoules

11. Strip
Packing
Droppers
Tubes
Vials
Blister
Packing
Ampoules
Vials are plastic or glass containers
specifically used to hold solid,
powder, and liquid drugs. They are
bigger in size and capacity
compared to ampoules. The vials are
closed with crimp cap. However,
plastic vials have hinge caps - which
can be easily closed when pressed.
These are mainly used as multidose
container
Vials

12. Strip
Packing
Droppers
Tubes
Vials
Blister
Packing
Ampoules
Pharmaceutical tubes are
made up of material like
aluminum, plastic. These are
used for semisolid
medicaments such as cream,
ointment, gels. Pressure is
applied from one end of to
take the medication out.
Tubes

13. Strip
Packing
Droppers
Tubes
Vials
Blister
Packing
Ampoules
Pharmaceutical dropper
packaging is designed for
precise liquid dispensing. It
typically includes a glass or
plastic bottle with a dropper
cap, ensuring accurate
dosage and application.
These are mainly used for eye
and ear
Droppers

14. Materials Used in Packing
Glass Plastic Rubber Metal Fibrous
Materials

15. Glass
Glass containers in pharmaceuticals offer chemical inertness,
impermeability, and light protection. Autoclavable and compliant with
standards, they maintain drug stability, sterility, and safety, ensuring
regulatory adherence in packaging.
Advantages
➢ They are impermeable to water vapors, air.
➢ They are available in various sizes and shapes.
➢ They have efficient mechanical strength and rigidity.
➢ They are transparent so the contents can be easily seen.
➢ They can be converted into light resistant glass by mixing with metal
oxides.
➢ They are able to withstand temperature and pressure during sterilization.
➢ They can be easily sealed.

16. Composition of Glass
Glass is made up of silica with varying degree of metal oxides, limestone
and cullet. Cullet is mainly the broken glass which acts as fusing agent. The
common cations which are found in pharmaceutical glassware are silicon,
zinc, boron, alumina, sodium, potassium, zinc etc. the only anion present is
oxygen.
Disadvantages
➢ They have heavy weight which increases their transportation
cost.
➢ They are breakable.
➢ They can easily leach alkali to aqueous solutions if not properly
treated with chemical.

17. Manufacturing of Glass
Blowing Drawing Pressing Casting Glass
Container

18. Types of Glass
Type Description General Use
Type 1 Glass Borosilicate Glass For Sterile Product
Type 2 Glass Treated Soda Lime
Glass
Alkali Sensitive product
Type 3 Glass Soda Lime Glass Dry Powder
Type 4 Glass General Purpose Glass Non Parentral Product

19. Plastics are very commonly used for packaging Pharmaceutical products.
These constitute about 20% of weight of all pharmaceutical packaging.
Plastics can be easily molded to required shape.
Plastic
Advantages
➢ They are unbreakable.
➢ They have less wt. than glass and so their transport cost is also
very less.
➢ They are available in various size and shapes.
➢ They can be easily molded into desired shape.
➢ They provide good protection power against chemical hazards.
➢ They do not have alkali leaching property as in glass containers.
➢ They also have suck back feature.

20. Disadvantages
➢The main disadvantage is permeation. The atmospheric gases, vapors or
liquid from surrounding environment can easily migrate into plastic
container.
➢Permeation causes problem of oxidation and/or hydrolysis and can
degrade the product which is sensitive to hydrolysis and/or oxidation.
➢They also have leaching problem, for e.g dyes which are used as coloring
agent may migrate into product from the container.
➢Another problem is sorption; sorption is the process of removal of one or
more constituents from the product by packaging material. This can affect
the therapeutic efficacy of the product.
➢Preservative can also be absorbed by the container material. This may
change the flexibility of the container

21. Paper and Cardboard
➢ These are prepared of cellulose fibers obtained from wood.
➢ Paperboards are also used as secondary package which are thicker
than paper and heavy in weight.
➢ Examples of paperboards are white board, solid board, chipboard,
fiberboard.
➢ These boards are mainly laminated using polyethylene or waxes.
➢ chipboard is obtained from recycled paper.

22. Metal
Metals are very commonly used as packaging material for pharmaceutical
containers. Examples of metals used for this purpose include mainly
aluminium, lead, tin etc.
Advantages
➢ They are light in weight than
glass. They are strong.
➢ They are resistant to light,
moisture and gases.
➢ They are elegant in appearance.
➢ Labels are not required to be
pasted because labels can be
printed directly on the surface
Disadvantages
➢ They may leach metal particles
into product.
➢ They may react with certain
drugs or chemicals and
produce toxic product.
➢ They are costlier than plastic

23. THANK YOU