What to Expect in the Medical Packaging Market

As cited in Packaging Strategies, the U.S. was by far the world’s largest healthcare market in 2015. With pharmaceutical sales topping $1.1 trillion and medical device sales reaching $350 billion, packaging is experiencing significant growth as well. Let’s take a look at upcoming changes to the market:

New Regulations

Medical packaging is heavily regulated, designed to protect consumer health. These regulations will grow increasingly stronger in upcoming years. For example, a unique product identifier will need to be added to certain packaging by November 2017.

This identifier will be applied at the packaging line, linking all levels of packaging together. It will largely be used to help detect and limit any damage associated with counterfeiting and product recalls.

New Equipment

Packaging Strategies cites that more than half of the medical product companies in the U.S. plan to increase spending on packaging equipment in upcoming years. While this investment is meant to improve product line efficiency and worker safety, equipment manufacturers may face challenges to meet this sudden surge in demand.

New Innovations

Market conditions are also causing changes in packaging designs, as companies focus more on consumer interaction and acceptance of the packaging. For example, blister packaging may offer companies more branding opportunities.

Additionally, these types of packaging designs aid in better dosage control and compliance.

Other design innovations include:

• Pressure sensitive closures
• Finger grabs
• Barrier properties of films 

Smart Medical Packaging Components

In a recent blog, we discussed blister packaging in particular and its various components. Heat seal coatings are one important aspect to ensuring proper functionality and brand design of the medical packaging.

Bostik manufactures smart heat seal coatings especially designed for blister packaging. These heat seal coatings offer:

• Chemical resistance
• FDA compliance
• Versatility

For more information on the importance of this type of medical packaging and how Bostik stands out in the market, call 800-7-BOSTIK.