Overview of the hottest drug packaging i

Overview of drug packaging (I)

drugs are a special commodity, and their efficacy and quality are directly related to human health and safety. The material and structure of drug packaging not only ensure the efficacy, but also play a key role in ensuring the reliability and convenience of drug use. It is an important indicator for the evaluation of drug quality

I. the development process of drug packaging in China

i.e. the amount of electricity stored in China is not enough. Drug packaging in many countries has experienced three stages. From the 1950s to 1960s, brown glass bottles, straw cartons, straight neck ampoules, etc. formed the packaging characteristics of that era. The drug packaging is bulky, but it is based on the principle of practicality. The type is monotonous, and the tablets are mostly made of dark brown glass bottles (equipped with corks to master the relevant operation steps and iron caps). The color of the bottle sticker design is complex, the printing is mainly typesetting, the ink manuscript is generally hand drawn, and the small instructions are written with a duck mouth pen, which is neat. Glass bottles are usually packed in straw board cartons and manual paste lined spacers. If the weight is more than 200g, the corrugated partition (teeth) is directly packed, which is heavy and inconvenient for transportation. The package of the water needle is single, mainly 1ml, 2ml and 5ml, and the drop of glucose is filled with 20mkl straight neck ampoules, and the outer box is a folding carton. Cartons are pasted with boxes. The printing of box stickers is rough, and there are great differences between boxes and box stickers. Powder packaging is simple, powder drugs are directly packed in thin paper folded bags, and small writing paper bags are used externally, with monotonous color

the second stage is from 1970s to early 1980s. This stage is in a state of adjustment and hesitation. At this time, it was greatly affected by the "Cultural Revolution", especially from the late 1960s to the late 1970s, there was no registered trademark on the drug packaging, and it slowly moved towards righteousness after a long period of pain

from 1980s to now, it is the third stage. After years of running in, the pharmaceutical packaging industry has developed healthily. The transformation of traditional industries such as conventional chemical fiber in the 1980s has become urgent. After the restoration of registered trademarks in the early s, the pharmaceutical packaging has been improved. In terms of packaging form, in addition to tablets, powders, pills, creams, water, needles, powders, suppositories, oral liquids, aerosols, capsules, patches, chewing agents and other dosage forms have been developed. In terms of materials, aluminum plastic, paper plastic, laser anti-counterfeiting and other composite materials are gradually popularized

Second, the two main materials of drug packaging

Plastic packaging materials include plastic, glass, composite film, wax, ceramics, metal, synthetic paper, non-woven synthetic paper, non-woven fabric, etc. Due to the development of polymer materials, plastic packaging materials occupy a more and more important position in medical packaging materials, followed by glass

1. Plastic packaging

in recent years, in addition to the traditional polyester (PET), polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and other packaging materials used in pharmaceutical packaging, various new materials such as aluminum plastic, paper plastic and other composite materials are also widely used in pharmaceutical packaging, effectively improving the quality and grade of pharmaceutical packaging, showing a broad development prospect of plastics

(1) ethylene terephthalate (PET). There are many kinds of pet used in pharmaceutical packaging. Because of its high strength, good transparency, excellent dimensional stability and good air tightness, it is often used to replace glass containers and metal containers for the packaging of solid preparations such as tablets and capsules; Pet with an intrinsic viscosity of 0.57 ~ 0.64cm3/g forms b0pet after biaxial stretching, which is commonly used to package Chinese herbal medicine slices; As an important part of high technology, biomedical materials have entered a new stage of rapid development. In addition, due to its high odor retention and heat resistance, it can be used as a barrier layer in multilayer composite films to ensure that drugs do not deteriorate within the period of validity and are not cracked by light, such as pet/PE composite films. But the biggest disadvantage of pet is that it cannot withstand high-temperature steam disinfection

(2) polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC). PVDC has good transparency, excellent printability and heat sealing performance. Its biggest feature is that it has good barrier to oxygen, water vapor and carbon dioxide in the air, and excellent moisture resistance. However, due to its high price, it is mainly made into composite films with PE, PP, etc. in pharmaceutical packaging, which are used as packaging bags for granules and powders

(3) polyethylene naphthalate (pen). Pen has excellent mechanical properties, strong ultraviolet radiation resistance, good transparency and barrier, glass transition temperature as high as 121 ℃, slow crystallization speed, and is easy to make transparent thick wall heat-resistant bottles. The price of pen is relatively high. In order to reduce the cost, pen and pet are usually blended to form a pen/pet blend, which has the same cost as glass and the same air tightness and shelf life as glass bottles. Because pen has strong ultraviolet radiation resistance, the composition of drugs does not change due to light exposure. It is commonly used in the thermal packaging of oral liquids, syrups, etc. at present, it is the only rigid packaging material that can replace glass containers and can be digested and disinfected by industrial methods. (to be continued)