Plastic: pharma's friend or foe?

Love it or loathe it, plastic is here to stay, but that doesn't let the pharmaceutical industry off the hook.

Ahead of Pharmapack 2019 (6 & 7 February, Paris, France), Gregor Anderson, Managing Director of Pharmacentric Solutions, provides his insight into the role and value of plastic in the pharmaceutical industry and what, if any, are the alternatives.

In what ways are plastics used by the pharmaceutical industry?

"The pharma industry's use of plastics is considerably less than the food industry. It uses plastics for the protection and delivery of its medicines, and this includes laminates (for example, for tablets, pouches, sachets) and devices (such as injectors, inhalers).

"Every medicine needs some form of protection - typically from moisture - and this extends the shelf life of the medicine. In addition, effective packaging design can enhance patient compliance. Plastics offer superior performance and quality at a reasonable cost."

Should the pharmaceutical industry make changes to reduce its use of plastic?

"Pharmaceutical manufacturers have to meet a range of regulatory requirements to ensure medicines reach patients with the same quality as they left the factory. There must be no risk of extractables and leachables interacting with the medicine throughout the shelf life and the shelf life must meet the demands of the supply chain - often a shelf life of 18-24 months is expected.

"Unlike food/fast-moving consumer goods, medicines are not marketed via the packaging; they are marketed on the efficacy of the molecule and the recommendation of the healthcare professional (via the prescription/script). As such, the packaging is purely functional and the packaging used is optimised.

"The packaging used in the pharmaceutical industry has to have detailed provenance (virgin materials only) and have a premium pricing from materials suppliers because of these quality requirements. This drives packaging designers to optimise the use of materials. There is, however, always the opportunity to continue to reduce the use of plastic and ‘Green Guides’ are a way for packaging engineers to challenge the design, specification and delivery of pack solutions. Green Guides should also be shared with suppliers as they are part of the end-to-end supply chain."

How might pharmaceutical companies justify their use of plastic?

"Pharma has to meet regulatory requirements and satisfy customer expectations. The energy/CO2 used to make medicines often far outweighs that of the packaging used to protect it. The value of the medicine often far outweighs that of the packaging and as such this medicine needs to be protected from manufacture to point of use. Ensuring that packaging adds value to the patient use is also vital and this extends to features such as anticounterfeiting and child resistance (both enhance medicine safety and both can use polymer-based technologies)."

Will changes be initiated internally (from within individual companies) or externally (from, for example, demand/pressure from customers)?

"Changes will come from both. Some countries are challenging the amount of packaging - most of these, however, are driven by regulatory requirements - and some of the materials used (i.e., PVC). The industry has huge amounts of data derived from testing of existing materials (i.e., stability) and considerable fixed capacity with packaging machines. Changes in materials and pack designs will add enormous complexity and investment so I’d challenge changing existing (already approved) pack formats.

"I would also like to see the industry launch new molecules in optimised materials (that have less environmental impact/or easier to recycle). On this point, I’d like to highlight the issue of recycling. With medicines the risk of contaminated plastic (from the medicine) is high so realistically the value of recycling it has to be really understood. The industry has to come together regarding the optimised use of materials and I’d like to see a Green Standard that the industry could follow. Remember, the packaging in pharma doesn’t sell the medicine ... the molecule is king. We, therefore, all use similar materials and processes for packaging our medicine platforms and so we could work together on this to drive change internally."

Do you think pharmaceutical companies are willing to put environmental issues ahead of profits?

"It’s all about performance of packaging, not profit. They already are aware of sustainability (look at any corporate social responsibility part of the annual reports) and have a ream of initiatives. Remember packaging is a small part of the picture here ... tackle the CO2 ‘biggies’ - propellants/waste from patients not taking their drugs (estimate is 50% of drugs are not taken effectively or at all!). Pharma needs to also work with its suppliers to ensure their manufacturing processes are efficient; for example, less waste, efficient machines."

What alternatives to plastics are available to pharmaceutical companies and how reasonable/effective are they?

"There aren’t any/many. If there were replacement materials the industry will be using them. I’ve seen plastic replaced by card, which is good practice. Again, Green Guides could challenge every project to minimise the use of plastics and build a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) for every packaging solution/decision. LCA is a vital tool in this process, but it also has to be tied in with effective recycling schemes for medicines."

What innovations and trends do you see regarding the use of plastic in the pharmaceutical industry?

A limited portfolio of materials are being used (which is good). Heritage materials are being challenged (PVC). One great initiative I’ve seen is GSK recycling inhalers. It has been a real challenge for them, but it's a start and encourages patients to return their inhalers, which can help encourage improved compliance. Unused propellants are extracted/recycled and plastics responsibly disposed of. More companies need to input into these schemes and I’m a huge fan of these as we have to make pharma packaging to demanding standards and if the used packaging can be returned it helps ‘complete the cycle’."

See Gregor Anderson at this year's Pharmapack where his conference (6 February, 15:55-16:20) will consider Sustainability Expectations Future Pharmaceutical Packaging and Devices.