Abstract

A REVIEW ON PHARMACEUTICAL PACKAGING AND ITS VARIOUS ASPECTS

Ritish Bansal and Sunita Vishvkarma*

ABSTRACT

Pharmaceutical packaging is one of the most important processes involved in the manufacturing and production of pharmaceutical products. Packaging involves the containment of drugs in various types of packaging materials after the production until the drug is used by the patient. It protects the medicine from external environment, during its storage, transportation, and selling. Pharmaceutical packaging is significant as it provides protection, identification, presentation, information, convenience, compliance, stability and integrity to the medicine. It helps in transformation of products from ordinary looking product to presentable marketing product. There are three different categories of packaging of pharmaceutical products, namely primary packaging, secondary packaging and tertiary packaging. Each of these packaging types have its own significance, which have been discussed in this review. Major packaging materials used to pack the pharmaceutical products includes, glass, plastic, rubber, and cartons. Nowadays, eco-friendly packaging materials are in trend considering the environmental protection. These materials are obtained from the natural sources and can be used without causing any harm to environment. This review contains the details about the pharmaceutical packaging and packaging technology. It includes details about the packaging, three different categories of packaging, types of packaging materials, ideal characteristics of packaging materials, advantages and functions of packaging, and labelling of packages. There are different quality tests which are performed on the packaging materials to assure its quality and stability. This review includes the information regarding the various types of equipments and instruments which are used for the packaging and labelling of medicines. It also reviews the various researches and innovations involved in the packaging technology.

Keywords: Packaging, Packaging material, Pharmaceutical, protection, storage.