Berry advances global pharma pack market in India’s Silicon Valley

01 Feb 2023 --- Berry Global Group is setting up a new manufacturing facility and healthcare center in India’s “Silicon Valley,” Bangalore (officially Bengaluru), to improve global access to healthcare products, leveraging the company’s R&D solutions. Production at the site is expected to begin in the next two months.

“The aim [of the Greenfield expansion project] is to support Asia’s growing demand for healthcare products with a range of high-quality, patient-centric packaging and devices. The new site will be located in close proximity to some of the largest, generic pharmaceutical companies,” a Berry spokesperson shares with PackagingInsights. 

The R&D center will launch up to seven new products and projects in 2023, ranging from Dry Powder Inhalers (DPI) to plastics caps and closures.

Among these products will be Berry’s Pneumohaler, a lightweight, breath-actuated, multidose inhaler dose counter for the control and treatment of Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Several new medical packaging products will be available for sampling with industrial prototypes in March 2023, the company details.

Berry's RS01X DPI provides personalized guidance to improve adherence and inhaler technique.Advancing Asia’s healthcare
Berry’s new Bangalore plant aims to improve global patient access to products for the inhalation, nasal, ophthalmic, dispensing and self-injection industries.

The products will include primary packaging such as eye droppers, sprays and pumps and DPIs, the spokesperson tells us.

“We will continue to focus on our current leadership in inhalation devices, including models with digital capabilities and the next generation of injectable devices. Another central area of activity will be introducing innovations in nasal and ophthalmic spray pumps and healthcare packaging for various products.”

Jean-Marc Galvez, president of consumer packaging international at Berry, adds: “Improved drug affordability and greater access to modern healthcare solutions are more important than ever in India, one of the most populated countries in the world.”

Moreover, the new facility and R&D center is touted to benefit the domestic economy by creating new jobs and the regional economy overall by improving healthcare access and providing locally manufactured products.

Standardizing quality 
Located close to other pharmaceutical market leaders, the Bangalore site’s ability to cater pharmaceutical packaging to US regulatory requirements will enable the local manufacture of healthcare products at a global scale.

The site will use ISO class clean rooms and leverage Berry’s experience submitting Active Drug Master Files (DMFs) to regulatory agencies and providing active DMF and filling for regulated markets.

The spokesperson explains that pharma companies ask packaging manufacturers for a DMF to ensure that the packaging material used in their products meets the necessary regulatory requirements and standards.

“DMF contains detailed information about the manufacturing process, quality control and testing of the packaging material, which helps the pharma companies to evaluate its safety and suitability for their products.”

Berry’s innovations include Risdrop – a user-independent dropper, Activated Rispharm – an antimicrobial dropper, and RS01X Digital – a single dose DPI.Rispharm's monomaterial construction, which can be specified in both PE and PP, means the full system can be easily recycled, keeping its environmental impact low.

Environmentally sustainable packaging
The Bangalore site will source the equivalent of around 90% of the facility’s electricity from solar and wind power. The site has also achieved the International Sustainability and Carbon Certificate (ISCC) Plus designation.

“ISCC Plus certified facilities support customer demand for more sustainable packaging by ensuring materials meet the ISCC’s standards for recycled, renewable and recycled-renewable materials,” elaborates Berry.

The certification provides traceability along the supply chain and verifies that companies meet high environmental and social standards. “This allows Berry to sell ISCC-certified packaging and plastic components that contribute to a circular economy approach based on advanced recycling and mass balance,” states the spokesperson.

Additionally, they tell us that in order to meet the growing environmental sustainability demands, the company is working on initiatives such as light-weighting products to reduce material usage without compromising on performance and functionality.

“We are also increasing the use of recycled material in certain products. For example, our RS01-R inhaler now incorporates advanced chemically recycled ABS resins with unchanged stability and biocompatibility characteristics.”

By Radhika Sikaria