The global pharmaceutical packaging market was valued at approximately $71.0 billion in 2018, and is projected to grow at a CAGR of nearly 6% during 2019-20291, according to new research by Future Market Insights, while Research and Markets say it will reach $149.3 billion by 2026, growing at an impressive CAGR of 8.75% during the 2017-2026 period.² The dynamics behind these soaring numbers are growth in emerging markets, such as India, China, Brazil, Russia, and Turkey, and growing demand for drug delivery devices and blister packaging.

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.

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. However, increasing packaging costs due to stringent regulations and anti-counterfeiting measures are impacting the full growth potential of the market.

According to Research and Markets, the plastic bottle segment is among the largest growing sector, attributed to easy production, prevalence and favor in the pharmaceutical industry, and the protection it provides from various environmental conditions. Also, influenced by new and complex biologics, primary pharmaceutical packaging is experiencing rapid growth, and this sector represents a major opportunity for growth in the packaging market.

By geography, North America maintains a substantial market share due to the increase in the number of new product launches with specialized packaging needs in this region, according to Research and Markets. Also, increased outsourcing of pharmaceutical manufacturing to emerging markets is expected to open new growth opportunities.

Market Trends
Packaging products are trending toward those that aid in patient compliance and are eco-friendly. A drug’s efficacy relies on a patient taking their medicines exactly as prescribed, and compliance continues to be a priority for packaging solutions. Technology is playing a key role in advancing compliance as packaging can now be connected to phones and other devices in an effort to enhance patient knowledge and adherence. Packaging that needs to be convenient as well as meet all of the previously mentioned criteria, requires innovative solutions. 

Craig Voellmicke, vice president of business development for Aptar CSP Technologies said, “Accomplishing patient compliance is a goal that is typically best suited to blister packaging. However, as more and more drugs continue to require enhanced protection against moisture, oxygen and other gases, a major challenge can be that blisters, while offering unit-dose-level protection, traditionally haven’t had absorptive properties. In other words, you couldn’t just pop in a desiccant as you could with a bottle or vial.”

Aptar CSP Technologies’ Activ-Blister solutions are designed to help control the internal atmosphere of individual blister cavities, allowing for improved product performance and enhanced shelf life. It offers moisture, oxygen and combination absorption, and the technology can be applied without the use of adhesives or changes to the existing footprint of a packaging line, according to Mr. Voellmicke.

With a growing focus on sustainable products, there is an emphasis on environmentally friendly designs and materials used for pharmaceutical packaging. Packaging sourced from more sustainable materials, and less of it in general, is the goal. However, for the pharmaceutical industry, this challenge is even greater as the industry is subject to government safety regulations, patient compliance, unit-dose control, combating counterfeits, and providing child-resistant packaging.

Reid Lederer, president of Pharma Packaging Solutions, said, “We have seen more interest in sustainable packaging choices as customers are considering environmental impact as one feature of their packaging choice. As a result we have expanded our offerings in this category.” For example, one of Pharma Packaging Solutions customers is packaging a medication based on sodium bicarbonate in gable top cartons, as opposed to plastic.

Producing recycled paper creates 74% less air pollution and 35% less water pollution than producing paper from virgin fibers,3 according to the Carton Council, a group of carton packaging manufacturers united to grow carton recycling in the U.S. Moreover, lightweight packaging requires less energy to ship than heavier material and carton recycling is available in nearly all of the top 100 U.S. markets. 

Key Factors Influencing Packaging
Today’s pharmaceutical packaging is heavily influenced by cold chain needs, schedule II systems (narcotics), patient dosing regimens, and regulatory compliance, and pharma and biopharma companies require advanced packaging solutions in these areas.

Aptar CSP’s Craig Voellmicke said, “Pharma companies are seeking novel self-administered treatments that not only protect the product through the point of care, but also enable ease of use / proper use. Per our niche, this could mean putting a prescription in a calendarized blister package whose film is desiccated on a per-dose basis, where before that technology simply wasn’t available. It’s a key combination of product protection and patient adherence, ease of use and “trackability” –meaning a calendarized blister pack can let a patient know that he took yesterday’s pill but hasn’t yet taken today’s pill.”

According to Gene Dul, president of Schreiner MediPharm U.S., “Important factors influencing pharmaceutical packaging today are supply chain integrity, patient centricity, user convenience, digitalization and sustainability. In addition, there are special packaging needs for highly sensitive drugs such as biopharmaceuticals or biosimilars, and growing segmentation trends demand small batches and a wide variety of sorts with short delivery times. Pharmaceutical packaging suppliers have to address these requirements and provide tailored solutions for each application, while ensuring smooth processability at the pharmaceutical manufacturer.”

Additionally, regulatory initiatives have prompted significant change in the industry for packaging. For example, Health Canada recently introduced Plain Language Labelling (PLL) Regulations that aim to improve the safe and effective use of OTC medications by making outer packaging easier to read and understand, for which all brands selling to the Canadian market must comply. Nic Hunt, senior vice president, Strategic Initiatives at Jones Packaging Inc. said, “At Jones, we’ve been heavily focused on responding to regulatory shifts in Canada for OTC drug packaging. 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.” He noted that full compliance for OTC products on retail shelves is required by June 2021 and similar regulations for natural health product packaging are soon to follow.

Pharma and biopharma needs have changed over the years. According to Reid Lederer of Pharma Packaging Solutions, in the 24 years the company has been providing pharmaceutical packaging services, there have been a sea change of requests. Mr. Lederer said, “It boils down to this: more environmentally friendly and protective packaging, a packaging partner who can complete complex technical requirements, and partnering strategically so that compliance and cost goals can be met.”

Curbing Escalating Costs
All of these packaging trends come at a cost, which is quickly escalating. Stringent regulations and anti-counterfeiting efforts are at the heart of these costs. For contract packagers, cost is always a challenge for clients, and even more so now as pharmaceutical companies face pricing pressures. Contract Packagers are charged with finding cost efficiencies from the materials purchased, to deciding which packaging line to run on.      

According to David Manis, marketing and sales associate for Reed-Lane, “Pharmaceutical companies are placing a greater emphasis on packaging costs. At the same time they are becoming more hands off and outsourcing all functions and responsibility. They are looking for packaging specification development, serialization, cold storage, as well as finding efficiencies throughout the process. Packagers are also seeing an increase in the cost of components. This makes it more important than ever for packagers to rely on their experience to offer alternatives that create a high quality product at an acceptable price, and to efficiently plan component and material purchases.”

Mr. Manis added, “Unfortunately regulations are what they are and can’t be avoided and can often lead to increased packaging costs. Hence, it is the packager’s responsibility to stay abreast of the regulations and the technology employed to implement these regulations. Often significant capital investment is required to meet these regulations and this cost is usually going to be incorporated into the final piece price. It is hoped that efficiencies can be realized downstream at some point so as to minimize cost pressures.” Contract packagers can leverage their knowledge and experience to help clients find cost efficiencies based on the size of the package, volumes ordered, and packaging configuration.

While the cost of anti-counterfeiting measures represents a significant investment for pharma and biopharma companies, the impact of having their products tampered with can potentially be an even greater threat. Gene Dul of Schreiner MediPharm U.S. said, “Depending on the threat scenario and the respective regulations, anti-counterfeiting efforts do have a cost impact on pharmaceutical packaging. However, pharmaceutical manufacturers have to consider the implications possible counterfeits of their products would have. Counterfeiting not only puts the safety of patients at risk, but also the reputation of the pharmaceutical company that could suffer big sales losses as a result of pirated products. Packaging or labeling suppliers with an extensive know-how and consulting expertise, together with the pharmaceutical customer, can help find the optimal security solution for specific supply chain challenges.” 

Opportunities
The tremendous growth in biologics and cold chain, the ever growing concern for supply chain security, and patient adherence and administration represent huge growth areas and opportunities in the packaging market.

According to Mr. Manis of Reed-Lane, “We see the most opportunity in packaging for the biologic market. With the continued rise in the demand for cold chain storage, more customers are looking for packagers that have cold chain services. For a contract packager like Reed-Lane, we use cold storage to enhance our service offering for labeling and kitting of vials and syringes, and serialization of these kits.” The company recently installed a new packaging suite located next to its cold storage unit, which is dedicated to labeling and kitting vials and syringes. The new suite aims to minimize excursion time for cold chain products.

“Considering the market trends, we see great opportunities to meet pharmaceutical packaging needs with highly functional labels addressing today’s and future challenges,” said Gene Dul of Schreiner MediPharm U.S. “Customized labels with integrated, multi-level authentication features can help to secure the pharmaceutical manufacturer’s supply chain, allowing verification by several stakeholders, including the end-user as well as informed experts. Tamper protection labels include closure seals for cardboard boxes as well as tamper-evident security solutions for clear first-opening indication of vials and syringes.”

In the area patient compliance, Gene Dul added, “For patient centricity and growing self-medication demand for medicines that are easy and convenient to administer, Smart labels with an integrated NFC chip can add value to the primary container or injection device while supporting the digitalization trend. A label-integrated NFC chip enables diverse interactive applications to optimally assist the patient during self-medication. Via a smartphone the patient can easily access additional product information, demo videos or special apps, or perform mobile product authentication.”

There are opportunities across all packaging segments, according to Mr. Hunt of Jones Packaging, the challenge for both pharmaceutical and packaging organizations is delivering on increasing functional requirements, from informing and protecting, to managing the dispensing of the products. “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,” said Mr. Hunt.

On the horizon, perhaps nanotechnology, the science and engineering at nanoscale, which is about 1 to 100 nanometers, can offer the potential to address eco-friendly ideals and allow for more innovative packaging solutions. Improved barrier properties in plastics and enhanced functionality for nanotechnology should also help facilitate the growth of the pharmaceutical packaging market. 

References:

1. April 2019, Pharmaceutical Packaging Market: Global Industry Analysis 2014-2018 and opportunity Assessment 2019-2029. https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/pharmaceutical-packaging-market
2. August 2018, Pharmaceutical Packaging – Global Market Outlook (2017 2026). https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/4x4g92/149_billion?w=5
3. https://www.recyclecartons.com/learn/#faq