Pharmaceutical Packaging helps to protect medicines from contamination, damage, degradation, and counterfeiting, as well as helps to extend product shelf life. Drug manufacturers are subject to international regulatory compliance and packaging plays a vital role in the drug supply chain process up to the final point of purchase. According to Research and Markets, the global pharmaceutical packaging market will reach $149.3 billion by 2026 growing at a CAGR of 8.75% during the 2017-2026 period.

Growth in the pharmaceutical packaging market, which includes: plastic bottles, parenteral containers, blister packaging, specialty bags, closures, labels, and other products, is attributed to increased R&D, generics, innovative packaging materials, and increased outsourcing to contract packagers.
          
Nic Hunt, Senior Vice President, Strategic Initiatives at Jones Packaging Inc. discusses markets trends, the key factors influencing pharmaceutical packaging, opportunities, and overcoming increasing packaging costs.–KB
 
Contract Pharma: What are the key factors influencing pharmaceutical packaging?
 
Nic Hunt: Patient medication regimens are becoming increasingly complex, with significant growth in polypharmacy. Some reports show 40% of patients over 65 are taking five or more prescription medications at one time, while markets for prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) medications are growing at a rate of 5% and 2%, respectively. In this kind of environment, minimizing total healthcare cost is critical – we need to ensure patients are informed about their medications, understand their regimens, have access to the medications they need and have support to make decisions about medications. Packaging plays a powerful role in this process by providing patients information and helping them to manage regimes.
 
At Jones, we’ve been heavily focused on responding to regulatory shifts in Canada for OTC drug packaging, with Health Canada’s recently introduced Plain Language Labelling (PLL) Regulations. These regulations aim to improve the safe and effective use of OTC medications by making outer packaging easier to read and understand – and any brand selling into the Canadian market must comply.
 
This presents a major challenge to the pharmaceutical supply chain, given significantly more information is required on outer packaging. In turn, packaging formats must change significantly to accommodate regulations, while minimizing changes to the packaged product.
 
CP: In what packaging segment do you see the most opportunity?  
 
NH: There are opportunities across all packaging segments – the challenge for packaging developers in both pharmaceutical and packaging organizations is delivering upon increasing functional requirements of packaging, from informing and protecting to managing the dispensing of the products. Developing packaging compliant with PLL Regulations is a current example of this.
 
While complex, multi-panel labels have existed for many years, recent advancements in secondary packaging are seeing the development of complex folding cartons that include multiple wrap-around panels capable of carrying additional information for patients.
 
To meet performance demands, the format of these new cartons has to be as efficient on cartoning lines as existing carton formats and compatible with all elements of the existing supply chain. The additional panels must also easily open and re-seal without tearing or losing integrity across a wide range of environments, so patients can access printed information on retail shelves before purchasing products. Importantly this packaging platform has to perform as specified by the largest global pharmaceutical companies, given their deep understanding of regulated healthcare markets.
 
When it comes to PLL, we have focused on developing a platform that includes proven, multi-panel folding cartons and multi-panel pressure-sensitive labels that maximize branding, minimize retail shelf footprints, ensure packaging line performance and are fully customized to our clients’ needs.
 
CP: How can the pharmaceutical packaging market overcome increasing costs due to stringent regulations and anti-counterfeiting efforts?
 
NH: Overall, there are many levers that pharmaceutical and packaging companies can jointly pull to minimize the cost of required changes to meet regulations and evolving patient needs. If we consider the “total cost” of a packaged product, it’s important to leverage existing supplier platforms wherever possible to reduce individual development costs – these platforms can be customized to specific packaging needs without having to develop from the ground up.
 
SKU consolidation increases economies of scale while integration of supply chains (vendor-managed inventory) also reduces inefficiency costs. There is always a time cost to consider as well – an integrated packaging design and development process helps put product into the market faster, generating earlier revenues.
 
That said, as we shift to a “total cost” view, we may see individual packaging costs increase – for example, intelligent packaging systems offer levels of functionality with potential in track and trace, anti-counterfeiting and grey import reduction. As one estimate places the value of counterfeit drugs in the U.S. at $200 billion, the potential for regaining lost revenue may be the largest prize of all.