Packaging
Gerresheimer offers the pharma world a complete range – AAPS Annual Meeting 2008, November 17 – 20 in Atlanta
Wednesday 19. November 2008 - The laser-encoded sterile syringe, the multicolour-printed pharma vial, the insulin pen with coordinated glass and plastic components from a single source from A to Z: these are just a few of the highlights of the comprehensive packaging and system range presented by the Gerresheimer Group at the Annual Meeting of the AAPS (American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists).
The globally respected US congress for pharmaceutics and medicine is accompanied by an advanced specialist exhibition and is being held this time from 17 to 20 November 2008 in Atlanta/Georgia. From Gerresheimer, visitors can expect a really up-to-the-minute overview (Georgia World Congress Center, Hall C3, Stand 1555).
As a leading partner of the pharma and life-science industry, Gerresheimer – with more than forty plants in America, Europe and Asia – has now grown substantially, not only in geographical terms but also in terms of its global product portfolio. “Particularly in America we have created completely new possibilities since the last AAPS Meeting,” says Burkhard Lingenberg, Director of Marketing and Communication for the Group.
With five plants in the USA and one in Mexico, Gerresheimer was already the number-one specialist in pharma glass on the American market for a considerable time. With two new plants in Brazil and one in Argentina, South American locations were then added just a year ago, specialising in pharmaceutical packaging – a product category which Gerresheimer had until then manufactured only in Europe. In the meantime the Group has also further internationalised its previously predominantly European project business with the addition of medical plastic systems; a very interested public for its high-calibre full service is certainly to be found in America. This years presentation in Atlanta therefore promises many new stimuli – across all requirement fields.
Syringe systems. In the syringe segment, RTF (Ready to Fill) stands for the technologically most advanced generation – and at the same time for a market success with extremely high growth rates over a considerable time throughout the world. Just at the start of 2007 Gerresheimer doubled its production of these systems – where clean rooms up to class 10,000 establish one of many outstanding standards – and already a third production line is now nearing completion. The simplest conceivable method for the pharma industry – with RTF syringes delivered in a pre-assembled, siliconised and sterile state for immediate filling – is becoming increasingly popular.
With the key focus on RTF, Gerresheimer presents in Atlanta a multi-link innovation chain. Intelligent accessories such as TERNS, the externally prick-proof and internally soft needle protection system with thermoplastic elastomer, and TELC, the tamper-evident twist-off Luerlock syringe closure, are not the only highlights. For the process of baked-on siliconisation the Group has for example just recently been granted a patent for the USA and Europe: through this the silicon coating which has long been familiar as a glide agent in the syringe body is now firmly fixed to the glass surface, substantially reducing the risk of interactions particularly with sensitive biotech-based active substances. A completely different technology, namely laser encoding, allows the individual origin and intended purpose of syringes to be traced with certainty at all times – whether to preclude the possibility of confusion or to examine the authenticity of pharma products on the market. For this purpose, tiny code fields which can be read only by laser are deposited indelibly on the finger rest. In contrast, highly visible product labelling is allowed by means of heat transfer printing – a single-step process which simultaneously fixes a number of colours to the glass: this multicolour printing process creates transparency in the often confusing plethora of product descriptions, starting with the manufacturers logo and product name and including but by no means ending with use-by dates and calibrations.
Pharmaceutical glass packaging. The technologies described above can of course also be used in quite different types of glass packaging. Particularly since syringes are part of the same global Gerresheimer division as vials, ampoules and cartridges: Gerresheimer Tubular Glass. Together with the sister division Gerresheimer Moulded Glass, which concentrates in parallel on medicine bottles and jars as well as technical/chemical pharma containers, the Group has at its disposal a specialty glass range for the pharmaceutical industry which is probably unique in its breadth and diversity. With the glass types I, II and III there is a choice of all pharma-relevant material types in both divisions.
As a vertically integrated manufacturer the Tubular Glass Division also produces the flint or amber glass tubes as intermediate products. From these, highly specialised containers – including for example dental cartridges, injection bottles and LOD (Large Outside Diameter) vials of the highest precision – are created by different processes. The new options for product labelling allow not only multicolour direct printing and barely visible laser codes but also, for example, the possibility of baking the product name firmly into the glass by laser technology – clearly legible to all. In addition, the high-quality moulded glass range extends from syrup bottles, cream pots and wide-neck jars in a multitude of variants right through to high-volume pharmaceutical containers. Specialties also include even opal and coloured glass.
Medical plastic systems. Fully focussed on customer-specific solutions this division offers an extremely diverse and highly innovative product spectrum for drug delivery and medical technology. Its special competence fields include the area of inhalation: for targeted treatment of respiratory diseases it conceives and realises inhalation devices in all categories – powder and capsule inhalers as well nebulisers and nasal spray systems. Another equally important area of specialism is that of diabetes: for diagnostic companies, Gerresheimer covers a very large requirement area with lancets and skin-prick aids for diabetes patients. For pharma manufacturers another demanding specialist area here is that of insulin pen systems. And systems of this kind now come completely from a single source in Gerresheimer: its overarching glass and plastic competence enables the Group to combine functional plastic components with its own tailor-made special cartridges.
Of particular interest for manufacturers of injection materials is an innovation which the customer Schreiner MediPharm, a specialist in functional labels, has launched together with Gerresheimer in perfect complementary collaboration to the benefit of both sides: the Needle Trap offers a new type of protection against injuries from used syringe needles. Incidentally it was just recently honoured by the 2008 German Packaging Award of the Deutsches Verpackungsinstitut (DVI) and the global WorldStar of the World Packaging Organisation (WPO). Other reference products on display in Atlanta are disposables such as cuvettes and quick tests for laboratories, practices and clinics.
All of this stands in the end for the enormous performance range of the exclusive Gerresheimer project business. This extends from individual product development and special machine and tool manufacture right through to clean-room production and even international logistics. A further massive expansion of capacity with a substantially increased proportion of clean-room production accompanies the internationally intensified expansion of business in this sector, indicating how successfully it is operating.