Don’t sweat it: Amcor instills blister packs with extra moisture protection for hot climate

26 Jun 2019 --- Amcor has teamed with British multinational pharmaceutical company GSK to develop an enhanced moisture barrier blister pack which protects its Pakistani market’s antibiotic against the hot climate. The global packaging giant also worked with machine manufacturer CAM-Partena and the project resulted in a solution based on the Formpack Dessiflex Ultra, a desiccated blister system with a special lidding foil.

Conventional blister packs are a proven solution for protecting pharmaceutical products and offer on-the-go convenience to patients. However, in some extreme conditions such as tropical climates, or highly moisture-sensitive products, there is a need for extra product protection.

The Formpack Dessiflex Ultra new blister system offers a number of advantages over the previous solution of tablets inside a glass bottle, as well as over standard aluminum blister packs.

Firstly, moisture protection is enhanced. For any standard aluminum blister, moisture can still enter the cavity via cross diffusion through the seal layer, or as part of the tablet packaging process. Formpack Dessiflex Ultra provides extra protection by absorbing any moisture before it enters the cavity and by drying the atmosphere of the cavity after the packaging process. This extra protection ensures each dose reaches the patient correctly.

“The inner layer of Dessiflex has imbedded a desiccant agent. In this way Dessiflex can absorb the extra humidity in the cavity,” Noemi Bertolino, Product Development Director for Amcor Flexibles, tells PackagingInsights. “Moisture can not enter from the sides where aluminum is present, bottom and top, but only from the edge of the blister where there are a few dozen of micron of inner layer not protected by aluminum.”

“Although that seems a very small area for moisture to get in, for very sensitive drugs it can be enough to decrease the life of the product. In the case of Dessiflex, it is protected for several years as the inner layer contains a desiccant, which will absorb the moisture coming in before entering the cavity,” Bertolino adds.

The Formpack Dessiflex Ultra new blister system also offers an improved experience for patients. The previous glass container of six tablets used a desiccant wrap, sealed using an aluminum pilfer-proof closure with a liner. While this is a safe and effective solution, Formpack Dessiflex Ultra allows patients to access each individual tablet. This makes it easier to keep track of the number of tablets taken, thereby assisting with patient adherence.

Patients can also be assured of the medicine’s authenticity because the green colored Dessiflex inner layer makes it far harder to counterfeit. Finally, the replacement of the previous glass packaging improves safety for line operators by reducing the risk of breakage during production and allowed GSK to simplify its production lines by removing the need to insert a desiccant sachet. Replacing a breakable material also reduces the risk of contamination, which could result in waste.

Bertolino explains that the inner layer was the biggest technical challenge in the creation of the pack. “It required a specific development that took years in order to achieve a significant improvement on product protection and also to provide the possibility to run the material on existing lines.”

“Development required a deep material science knowledge and expertise together with strong cooperation with machine manufacturers of blister lines,” she says.

The Formpack Dessiflex Ultra new blister system is available worldwide, Bertolino says. She confirms that the pack is “mostly made from aluminum” and suitable for recycling in metal recycling streams. It is also a technology that can also be extended into dry food products.

The Dessiflex packaging range has been used across the healthcare market for over a decade to help healthcare companies extend product shelf life. Formpack Dessiflex Ultra is the latest addition to the Dessiflex offering, combining it with the Formpack blister range.

Formpack Dessiflex Ultra provides extra protection by absorbing any moisture before it enters the cavity.The European Aluminium Foil Association (EAFA) has awarded the Alufoil Trophy in the Product Protection category to Formpack Dessiflex Ultra, in recognition of the enhanced protection provided to an antibiotic product by GSK. Laura Fernandez, Senior Packaging Technologist for Marks & Spencer and leader of the awards judging panel, recognized the protective properties of the new blister.

Fernandez said: “This pack works well on a number of levels. In particular, its protective capacity enables the antibiotic, which is very moisture sensitive, to be used more securely in humid, tropical areas. The blister ticks a lot of the boxes and met GSK’s criteria to protect operators and patients.”

Before the Alufoil Trophy award, the Dessiflex range had already been recognized on several occasions: in 2012, it won a Dow Packaging Innovation Award (formerly known as DuPont Packaging Innovation Award) and another Alufoil Trophy.

This month, Amcor confirmed the US$6.8 billion all-stock transaction to combine with Bemis, effective from 11 June 2019. Operating as Amcor Plc, the acquisition signals an “offensive” plastics expansion in the Americas and Asia, with bolt-ons expected.

By Joshua Poole

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