Application of Plastics in Pharmaceutical Packaging

As one of the four major materials for modern merchandise packaging, plastics show the advantages of “three lows” that glass, metal and paper packaging cannot match: low raw material prices, low production costs and low transportation costs. According to statistics, the plastics currently used for various kinds of goods packaging account for about 35% of the total amount of plastics. The main role of drugs is to protect and improve human health, thus determining the main role of pharmaceutical packaging as a part of drug quality is to ensure the safety, effectiveness and stability of drugs under various conditions for a long time. In recent years, in addition to traditional packaging materials such as polyester (PET), polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) for pharmaceutical packaging, various new materials such as aluminum-plastic, paper-plastic and other composite materials are also widely used in pharmaceuticals. Packaging, effectively improving the quality of pharmaceutical packaging and pharmaceutical grades, shows the broad prospects for the development of plastics. 1 Application Status 1.1 Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is used in many kinds of PET packaging. Its intrinsic viscosity is between 0.75-0.85cm3/g mainly for plastic bottles and sheets, due to its high strength. , Good transparency, excellent dimensional stability, good airtightness, commonly used in place of glass containers and metal containers, for the packaging of solid preparations such as tablets, capsules; PET with intrinsic viscosity between 0.57-0.64cm3/g After being biaxially stretched, a polyester film (BOPET) is formed, which is often used to package Chinese Herbal Pieces; in addition, because of its high odor retention and heat resistance, it can be used as a barrier layer in a multilayer composite film to ensure that the medicine is not deteriorated during the effective period. Irradiated by light, such as PET/PE composite film.
However, the biggest drawback of PET is that it cannot withstand high-temperature steam sterilization. In recent years, the United States and other countries have invented a new transparent glass plastic (usually PET) bottle production process to produce a new type of glass plastic bottle with high transparency, pressure resistance and heat resistance, which is used for pressure resistance and high temperature resistance. The medicinal liquid bottle of bacteria opens up a broader application field for PET.
1.2 Polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC)
PVDC has good transparency, excellent printability and heat sealing performance, and its greatest feature is its good barrier properties to oxygen, water vapor, and carbon dioxide in the air, and excellent moisture resistance. However, due to its high price, in the pharmaceutical packaging mainly with PE, PP, etc. made of composite film used as granules and powder packaging bags.
Powders and granules have a large specific surface area, so their hygroscopicity and efflorescence are also significant. After the absorption of such drugs, many changes may occur, such as physical changes such as wetting and agglomeration, chemical changes such as discoloration, decomposition, or decrease in drug efficacy, and microbial changes, infestations, and other biological changes. Moisture protection is an important measure to ensure the quality of powders and granules. The use of biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) / PVDC, PE / PVDC / PE film for packaging, you can greatly improve the powder and granules moisture absorption, agglomeration, softening, mildew and other deterioration.
1.3 Polyethylene naphthalate (PEN)
PEN's mechanical properties are excellent, there is a strong UV irradiation characteristics, transparency, good barrier properties, glass transition temperature up to 121 °C, crystallization speed is slow, easy to make transparent thick-walled heat-resistant bottles. The price of PEN is relatively high. In order to reduce costs, PEN and PET are usually blended to form a PEN/PET blend, which has the same cost as glass, and has the same airtightness and shelf life as the glass bottle. Because PEN has strong ultraviolet radiation resistance, so that the composition of the drug does not change due to light irradiation, it is often used in the thermal packaging of oral liquids, syrups, etc., and is the only rigid packaging that can replace the glass containers and can be sterilized by industrial methods. material.
1.4 Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
PVC has good transparency, high strength, excellent heat sealability and printability. In pharmaceutical packaging, rigid PVC is mainly used to make turnover containers, bottles, etc. Soft PVC is mainly used to make films, bags and so on. In recent years, with the improvement of the quality and grade of pharmaceutical packaging, a new application space has been opened up for semi-rigid PVC sheets. At present, a large number of PVC sheets are used as blister materials for aluminum-plastic blister packaging for tablets and capsules. .
The aluminum-plastic blister packaging for pharmaceuticals is also called Blister Pack, abbreviated as "PTP". Traditional packaging methods for pharmaceutical tablets and capsules are bottled and bagged. Due to the low degree of sealing, it is difficult to ensure the quality of drugs during the storage period. For example, Guweisuo tablets can be stored in less than 1 year, and there is a small amount of moisture deterioration; The loss rate of Anluotong Tablets is even as high as 10%. In particular, sugar-coated tablets in bottled and soft packaging are used. Due to the friction between tablets during transportation, stripping and slicing phenomena occur. The use of aluminum-plastic blister packaging, due to its moderate amount of packaging, not only reduces the loss of drugs, reducing the chance of drug contamination, but also reduce the workload of pharmacy drug users, to avoid the wrong drug, mixed drug phenomenon It is predicted that about 70% of the tablets and capsules of medicines in the future will be blister packs.
With the continuous deepening of research on pharmaceutical packaging materials, PVC is not ideal in terms of moisture barrier and gas barrier, etc., and can not fully meet the requirements of drugs for moisture, moisture, and light transmittance. In recent years, with the development of modified plastics, composite materials using PVDC as a barrier layer are also often used as blisters. Commonly used composite materials are PVC/PVDC/PE, PVDC/OPP/PE (OPP is a uniaxially stretched polypropylene) and other light-proof plastic hard sheets, which are better than PVC.
1.5 Polypropylene (PP)
PP is a kind of plastic with very low density. Its unfilled or reinforced density is only 0.90-0.91g/cm3. Its glass transition temperature is Tg=-7-9°C, so it is usually crystalline. The melting point is 185-170°C. Therefore, it has high heat resistance and can be cooked in boiling water. It is non-toxic, it is a weak polar polymer, so its thermal adhesiveness and printability are poor. Generally, OPP is made into OPP/PE, OPP/Al/PE composite film for the purpose of improving transparency or barrier property. It is the ideal material for printing compound film packaging bags such as water pills and granules.
1.6 Polyethylene (PE)
PE is milky white and can be made into a translucent film with excellent moisture resistance, but oxygen and some gases can penetrate. Most solvents and strong acids and alkalis have no effect on it, but the isolation is poor. The density of PE (0.90-0.96g/cm3) determines its basic properties, because its rigidity increases, its heat resistance and cold resistance increases. Well, low moisture permeability. For LDPE, it also has particularly good thermal bonding (heat sealing) properties, good flexibility, strong resistance to environmental stress cracking, which makes it occupy an important position in the plastic packaging.
Due to poor oxygen barrier properties of PE, it is generally not used as a single-film pharmaceutical packaging bag, and often processed into composite films such as BOPP/LDPE and PET/PVDC/PE to improve the effectiveness and safety of drugs.
1.7 Polystyrene (PS)
PS is a hard, colorless, transparent plastic, low price, its moisture permeability, permeability higher than HDPE, lower melting point (88 °C), can not be used at high temperatures, acid and alkali but not strong oxidizing acid , It is easily broken by the eroding of many chemicals such as isopropyl myristate, generally it is not used for packaging liquid preparations, and it is usually made into plastic bottles for containing solid preparations such as tablets and capsules.
1.8 Ethylene/vinyl acetate copolymer (E/VAC)
The E/VAC vinyl acetate composition for plastics is relatively low, generally about 10% to 20%. It has high tensile strength. In addition, EVAC has good toughness, softness, transparency, and lower temperature heat sealing. It is usually made into containers and films, and it is used for pieces and pills with high requirements for strength. Solid packaging such as packaging.
1.9 Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)
PTFE has excellent resistance to high and low temperature, chemical resistance and dielectric properties. It can withstand the effects of concentrated acids and oxidants such as sulfuric acid, nitric acid, aqua regia and chromic acid, which are highly corrosive media. PTFE is used as a packaging material and is mainly used to make containers and films. It is used in particularly harsh packaging applications, such as particularly hot, humid, and numerous chemical applications. It is commonly used for external liquid preparations such as ointments, lotions, and formulations. package of.
1.10 Polycarbonate (PC)
PC has strong oil resistance, good air permeability, resistance to dilute acid, antioxidants and reducing agents, as well as salts, aliphatic hydrocarbons, etc. The container made of PC is clear and transparent, hard and glassy, ​​and can withstand repeated sterilization in steam and boiling water. In pharmaceutical packaging, it can replace glass bottles or syringes, and can also be used as eye medicine bottles. Its impact resistance is quite good, about 5 times larger than ordinary packaging plastics.
1.11 Other plastics that can be used in pharmaceutical packaging are cellulose acetate acetate, polyamide (PA), polyurethane (PUR), polyvinyl fluoride (PVF), ethylene/vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH), ABS and K-resins. Its uses are mostly the use of these plastics have the advantages of moisture-proof, shading, gas barrier, good printability, for example, cellulose acetate toughness, excellent folding resistance, and can be broken down by bacteria, will not cause environmental problems; K - The resin can be used for packaging of medical equipment. When it needs to be disinfected, it can be used to change the contents of the product. 2 Conclusion With the development of material science and human health concerns, Drug packaging will move toward safer, more comprehensive and non-polluting directions. Plastics will become the fastest-growing material in pharmaceutical packaging with its excellent overall performance and reasonable price. It will continue to replace other packaging and play a greater role in improving the overall level of the pharmaceutical industry.

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