Drug manufacturing is a complex procedure and pharma companies have enough to deal with, without having to worry about packaging mismatches.

In the pharmaceutical world, precision and reliability are non-negotiable. Yet when it comes to packaging, many manufacturers still face an unexpected challenge: sourcing bottles and closures from separate suppliers.

When a leading pharmaceutical company set out to develop a new powder-based formulation, they quickly ran into a critical packaging challenge. The product was highly hygroscopic (extremely sensitive to moisture) so protecting it from humidity was out of the question. The natural choice seemed to be glass, long considered the gold standard for moisture barrier performance. But glass came with its own set of problems.

While glass offers excellent moisture resistance, it also raises several challenges:

• Regulatory and operational complexity
• Limited availability of pharmaceutical packing contractors and CDMOs willing to handle glass containers.
• Higher logistics costs due to weight and breakability
• Incompatibility with the company’s sustainability goals.

Once approached by this customer, the LOG team stepped in and proposed a more advanced approach: using MonoBlock high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bottles, developed with enhanced moisture barrier technology.

These bottles offered a moisture vapor transmission rate (MVTR) four times lower than standard HDPE containers. This means MonoBlock could offer sufficient moisture barrier protection without the drawbacks of using glass.

To ensure compatibility with the customer’s specific production requirements, LOG also customized the bottle size to fit seamlessly into their existing fill line.

Initial development wasn’t without hurdles. The standard MonoBlock design did not meet the client’s strict moisture sensitivity targets. Early-stage stability tests yielded suboptimal results.

LOG’s R&D team went back to the lab and optimized the MonoBlock barrier characteristics with improvements, the updated bottles successfully passed stability testing and met all product protection criteria.

The benefits to the client have been significant:

• Glass was completely removed from the packaging system.
• Their product passed stability test
• Packaging became more efficient and line compatible.
• The new solution aligned with the company’s environmental commitments.

At LOG, we believe that the two goals of sustainability and performance can go hand in hand. This project is a perfect example of how smart packaging innovation can unlock both.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: Drug manufacturing, HDPE, MonoBlock®, MVTR, pharmaceutical packing