Did you know that picking glass packaging for pharmaceuticals and medical products has many advantages over picking other popular materials such as plastic or aluminium? Although glass can sometimes be delicate to handle and prone to smashing easily when dropped, it does offer many beneficial properties that other materials do not.
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It&#;s extremely important that pharmaceuticals are kept at their optimal temperature, as any slight change can affect the medicine&#;s properties. Glass packaging is fantastic at regulating the temperature of products, as it doesn&#;t react to changing temperatures by losing structure or leaking chemicals.
Glass is a strong non-reactive material, meaning that it it will not leak any matter into the liquid within any glass container. This feature is of course especially important for pharmaceuticals, as medicines are comprised of delicate balances of elements to create the correct mixture that will treat the patient. If anything is leaked into this fine balance, then it is likely that the medicine would not be as effective. Some types of plastic packaging can react with the contents within them, so it&#;s best to take the advice of Jens Heymann, Senior Vice-President of Europe & Asia Tubular Glass at Gerresheimer; &#;Drugs must be carefully examined at an early stage, ideally when clinical tests with the primary packaging begin. The pharmacist must ensure that all possible interactions between the contents and the packaging are recorded and assessed for risk.&#;
Some types of plastic can leak Bisphenol A (BPA), which is a chemical found in many types of plastic, that is thought could cause possible ill health effects to the brain and blood pressure when ingested. Although this fear is yet to be conclusively proved by science, if you have any doubts about using plastic to package your pharmaceuticals, then you need to opt for glass packaging for pharmaceuticals.
Sterilising glass is so easy because it can hold structure when exposed to high boiling temperatures, making it simple to kill off any harmful bacteria and germs. Glass can also be baked afterwards to dry it a controlled way and it won&#;t crack!
Our collection of medicine bottles comprises 5 different ranges: Rectangular, Flask, Sirop, Apothecary and Winchester. All of these ranges are available in a choice of amber or clear glass, apart from the Rectangular and Flask ranges which are available in only amber and only clear glass respectively.
Our Apothecary Bottles look like they&#;ve come straight out of the middle ages, thanks to the old-fashioned glass stopper cap that comes with each bottle. It has a snug fit to preserve the freshness of the medicine inside, as well as giving the bottle a distinctive, quirky look. These bottles are available in sizes from 50ml to 250ml and are ideal for packaging tablets or supplements. The other ranges of medicine bottles are all perfect for packaging cough syrups, children&#;s liquid paracetamol and any other form of liquid medication.
Prices for our medicine bottles start from just 9p each!
Our Pharmapac Jars are again available in a choice of amber or clear glass, and in sizes ranging from 30ml up to 500ml. You have the choice of purchasing these jars without a lid, or with the compatible screw on lids, which are available in black urea or white urea depending on the jar size. These lids are lined with rubber to keep the contents inside free from contamination and to prevent leakage. We think that these jars are simply ideal for storing pills, powders and supplements.
Prices start from just 23p each!
Finally we have our lab vials, which are only available in clear glass. They come in all shapes and sizes, from thin to squat and ranging from 1.75ml to 30ml in capacity. They are ideal for use in laboratories, but also for use as a vessel to send out product samples in or even as packaging for your ranges of luxury essential or aromatherapy oils! Each vial comes complete with a snap on cap or stopper cap to stop any product from leaking.
Prices start from just 14p each!
Glass as a packaging material has many benefits, it is sustainable, inert, impermeable, recyclable with no loss in quality, and reusable. It is an ideal material to safely store and protect products.
For decades glass has been used as one of the primary materials for medical packaging solutions. The packaging of pharmaceutical products has to be of superlative quality as the integrity of the products cannot be compromised under any circumstance. The type of glass containers used as pharmaceutical packaging materials is specific to the contents packaged. This is because the glass container comes in direct contact with the preparations. The packaging should not interact physically or chemically with the medications to cause changes in the quality of the product. Glass offers many benefits in the packaging of medical preparations. It is extremely sturdy, is ideal for bulk transportation, poses a low health hazard, does not react chemically with the product and coloured glass can protect light-sensitive medicines from UV rays.
Borosilicate Glass
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Treated Soda-Lime Glass
Regular Soda-Lime Glass
General-Purpose Soda-Lime Glass
Borosilicate Glass: This glass is called &#;Type I&#;, &#;Neutral Glass&#; or &#;Hard Glass&#;. It is ultra-resistant to both heat and cold due to its very low coefficient of expansion. With a high melting point of 3,000 °F/ °C, it can withstand sterilization. Borosilicate is a highly resistant material to thermal shock, and chemical substances as well as being chemically inert. The presence of boric oxide gives it a high hydrolytic resistance and reduces leaching action. The durability of borosilicate glass and the ability to contain strong acids and alkalis make it perfect to package water for injections and parenteral and non-parenteral medications. It is the pharmaceutical packaging material most preferred for aqueous products.
Treated Soda-Lime Glass: This glass is also called &#;Type II&#;, &#;Soda-Lime-Silica Glass&#; or &#;Dealkalized Soda Lime Glass&#;.It is resistant to water. The surface of this type of glass is treated with sulfur which neutralizes the alkaline oxides making it more weathering and chemically resistant. Like Type I glass it has high hydrolytic resistance, it is more chemically inert than borosilicate although it has a lower melting point in comparison and therefore is easier to mould. Containers of this type are used as medical packaging solutions for alkali-sensitive products, infusion fluids, blood and plasma, and large-volume containers. Type II glass containers are best used for more acidic and neutral aqueous preparations for both parenteral and non-parenteral preparations.
Regular Soda-Lime Glass: Also called &#;Type III&#; or &#;soda-lime-silica glass&#;, this is the most common form of untreated glass produced. Due to its high concentration of alkaline oxides, it can impart alkalinity to aqueous substances. This glass has average chemical resistance and moderate hydrolytic resistance. This pharmaceutical packaging material flakes easily and is not very tolerant to sudden changes in temperature and may therefore crack. In the pharmaceutical industry, it is best used for packaging solids and non-aqueous preparations like tablets and powders. For parenteral use and non-parenteral preparations suitable stability test data will be required. It should not be used for freeze-dried preparations or alkaline sensitive solutions.
General-Purpose Soda-Lime Glass: This is Non-Parenteral glass also called &#;Type IV&#; that is only used for oral dosages or topical purposes. Used for very basic applications, it cannot be used for products that need to be autoclaved. Containers of general-purpose soda-lime glass have low hydrolytic resistance.
Glass containers for the pharma industry need to have evaluation studies done to confirm their suitability for the preparation. These studies include
Hydrolytic resistance test
Glass grains test
Surface glass test
Surface etching test
Light/spectral transmission tests for coloured glass containers.
Arsenic release tests to detect arsenic in aqueous parenteral preparations
Glass continues to be the preferred choice in pharmaceutical packaging material. Its benefits far outweigh the few drawbacks. With most packaging moving towards sustainable and eco-friendly solutions, recycled glass is already ahead of the race. While it is possible that glass may eventually become outdated as newer materials are being developed to encase life-saving therapies, it will continue to be a key material in the foreseeable future.
At Ficus Pax, we strive to provide you with packaging solutions that are environmentally friendly, sustainable and best suited to your product. Get in touch with us to discuss packaging options for the pharmaceutical industry.
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