Gerresheimer Presents its Credentials as a Competitive Complete Supplier of Packaging and Systems
In the special business of pharmaceutical packaging solutions, Gerresheimer belongs to the small circle of really global players.
04/10/06 At CPhl/ICSE 2006 (International Contract Services Expo), the prestigious specialist trade fair for pharmaceutics, which opens its doors in Paris from 3 to 5 October 2006, the Gerresheimer Group again presents its credentials to the pharmaceutics industry as a global and highly innovative supplier of top quality products based on glass and plastic. The Group, which is one of the most important worldwide specialists in pharmaceutical packaging and application systems, displays a comprehensive range of products and services. Visitors to Hall 4 will find on Stand 4A60 a cross-section ranging right through to the top category of ready-to-fill sterile syringes and including remarkable innovations across the board.
In the special business of pharmaceutical packaging solutions, Gerresheimer belongs to the small circle of really global players. The Group, which currently manufactures in 20 locations in Europe, America and China, is the international leader in the field of pharmaceutical glass and, in the European pharma market, is also one of the top addresses in the plastics sector. Worldwide it has additionally established a high-profile reputation as a pacemaker in the field of prefillable syringe systems: particularly with ready-to-fill sterile syringes under its RTF trademark it today services customers in all five continents. “We want to achieve qualitative growth”, explains Burkhard Lingenberg, Director of Corporate PR and Marketing for the Gerresheimer Group. With a comprehensive range of products and processes, the Group counts individual customised development as one of its special strengths.
In Paris, Gerresheimer therefore takes the stage as an all-round, highly competitive complete supplier. Its glass packaging range is probably the most complete and multi-facetted of its type in the world. In addition to moulded glass in all three of the relevant classes (types I, II and II), from which Gerresheimer produces bottles and jars in all shapes, sizes and colours, it comprises type-I borosilicate glass covering requirements almost comprehensively with ampoules, vials and cartridges, Various processes for specific inner surface treatment increase the possibilities exponentially. High-quality tubular glass as an intermediary product, manufactured by Gerresheimer itself as a vertically integrated operator, is also supplied by the company to the division which produces glass-based drug-delivery systems, namely matched cartridges and prefillable syringes.
Extremely high growth rates are being achieved worldwide by sterile syringes delivered to the pharma industry completely ready to fill. In this sector the Group, with its competence centre Bünder Glas, is one of the undisputed technology leaders. Following massive expansion of production. it will more than double its capacity for RTF syringe systems in the coming year. In Paris it displays all the varied facets of the latest generation of products.
Intelligent developments – including system peripherals – have added to this success story. Two particular highlights of the RTF accessory spectrum have recently received high honours in the competition for the 2006 German Packaging Prize. The internationally coveted trophy went to the Rigid Needle Shield (RNS), a cleverly designed needle cap which won the prize primarily as an important innovation for protection against injuries, For its outstanding design concept, the Tamper Evident Luerlock Closure (TELC) combining syringe closure, tamper-evident closure and needle adapter in one part also ranked among the outstanding nominations for the award. In addition to these stars of the ICSE presentation, visitors can see a wide range of complementary components – including the Backstop, an effective plunger brake and finger rest in one, and a series of pain-reducing precision needles with new geometry and smoothness.
In parallel, Gerresheimer also has a wealth of packaging innovations up its sleeve in the field of plastic packaging. Its widely varied product range under the famous trademarks Duma and Dudek comprises packaging and system approaches based on various types of plastic. It caters for both solid and liquid pharmaceutical products and allows extremely useful differentiation options in the individual product groups. For the large market of medicines and dietary supplement products in tablet form, it offers for example a wide variety of combinable containers and closures, which allows an exemplary range of individual variation possibilities.
With a new closure system for tablet containers in which both a desiccant and a tamper-evident closure are integrated the Gerresheimer Group moves another step ahead. At ICSE it presents for the first time (under the Duma trademark) the Twist-Off series which is produced entirely internally: even the previously outsourced desiccant is manufactured in Gerresheimer’s own state-of-the-art facility in its Danish plant in Vaerloese. Complete production in a continuous process chain guarantees maximum safety as well as increased cost-efficiency. In addition, the tamper-evident closure has been optimised: reinforced TE-rings with precisely placed break points mean that erroneous tear-offs are practically impossible while at the same time opening becomes easier. Last but not least, the stable system closures display excellent running characteristics on the filling and fabrication equipment of the pharmaceutical industry.
In two sizes this system closure design covers a wide spectrum of tablet containers. The Duma Twist-Off Closure with integrated desiccant fits containers holding between 15 and 600 ml. Although safer, stronger and more user-friendly than ever, it can be employed immediately because in all the components of the new generation the same material is used as before. The other segments of the plastic product range are also characterised by top quality and really up-to-date and practical convenience benefits: for example rhinological spray bottles and flat ophthalmic dropper bottles.
What takes place behind this impressive display of the overall product range deserves special examination. As widely known, Gerresheimer has systematically developed its service standards to a very high level in order to ensure that it lives up to its self-imposed complete-supplier claim perfectly in all regards. To match the products which it supplies on an international level in accordance with all the relevant pharmacopoeia requirements, the Group offers technical documentation, life-cycle management and assistance by its specialists with registration procedures and alignment of filling equipment to the latest systems. In customised developments, interdisciplinary collaboration often starts in the early phases of drug development.
“Progress in drug delivery demands constructive dialogue,” says Burkhard Lingenberg. So, in Paris, Gerresheimer again wants to provide more than just an up-to-date picture of its product range.
