Materials used for packaging of medicinal tablets are in direct contact with the drugs, therefore they belong to a category of drug packaging. Medicines are a special commodity and their efficacy and quality are directly related to people's health and safety. The drug packaging materials and their structural forms not only ensure the efficacy of the drugs but also play a role in ensuring the reliability and convenience of medicine use. Therefore, pharmaceutical manufacturers should understand some properties and characteristics of packaging materials and containers when selecting packaging materials, so as to choose suitable packaging materials for medicines based on their special requirements.
The biggest advantage of medicinal plastic bottles is that they are lightweight, unbreakable, easy to clean and beautiful. Pharmaceutical manufacturers can use them directly without washing or drying. Some technical indicators and a large amount of data show that their chemical resistance, water-vapor permeability, and sealing performance are excellent. They can completely provide safe shielding and protection for the drugs during their shelf-life.
How to choose packaging materials? As there are many specifications of medicinal plastic bottles, ranging from small sizes of a dozen milliliters to large sizes of thousands of milliliters, some are colorless, some are transparent, with various colors, different shapes, and a wide variety of types.
When faced with a colorful market of plastic bottles, pharmaceutical manufacturers should mainly focus on the following principles when selecting plastic bottles:
Select the main raw materials and assistance formula for pharma packaging material
The product standards for solid plastic bottles stipulate the applicable main raw materials, emphasizing that they must meet the requirements of non-toxicity and odorlessness. As there are many options for main raw materials, comprehensive performance of the materials is an important factor when selecting them. Generally, high-density polyethylene and polypropylene bottles are used for tablet drugs. If transparency is needed, PET bottles can be selected. If the drugs require higher barrier properties and are opaque, brown PET bottles or PEN bottles with even higher barrier properties can be chosen. Polypropylene bottles or polyester bottles are usually used as the main raw materials for liquid drug formulations.
Sealing performance and water vapor permeability of the bottle body and cap of the pharmaceutical packing material
Sealing performance and water vapor permeability are two important technical indicators for medicinal plastic bottles, which play a crucial role in the stability of the packaged drugs.
Product quality standards of plastic bottle drug packaging materials
An analysis of the product quality standards of the production plant can be used to judge the quality of the product. Manufacturers of medicinal plastic bottles should formulate enterprise standards that are stricter than national or industry standards.
Quality assurance system for drug packaging materials
Audit of suppliers has become an essential part of the procurement process for plastic bottles. Through audits, a comprehensive and accurate evaluation of the soft and hardware facilities, technical equipment, and overall quality of the production plant can be made.
Stability of packaged drugs and compatibility of the plastic bottle used as the medicine packaging material
When selecting plastic bottles, especially new drugs that use new types of plastic bottles (or new materials and processes), drug stability and compatibility of the plastic bottle with the drug should be evaluated through packaging tests. The permeability, dissolution, adsorption, chemical reaction and denaturation of the drugs and plastic bottle materials towards each other must be determined by scientific testing to ensure compatibility.
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