Co-Packer is a full-service contract packager for the pharmaceuticals industry, with all the skills and experience necessary to take your products through the final packaging process. We offer a wide range of secondary and tertiary packaging capabilities, with final quality inspections included to make sure your products are ready to go to market.

Whereas primary packaging is the material that first envelops a particular product and contains it within, it is typically the smallest unit of distribution or use, in direct contact with the contents. Secondary packaging, meanwhile, is outside this primary packaging and is generally used to group primary packages together.

Tertiary packaging, meanwhile, is used for bulk handling, warehouse storage and transport shipping, typically in the form of pallet loads tightly packed together.

Secondary packaging comes in many forms, but the most common of these are paper and boards, cartons, corrugated fibres and boxes. Paper can be used as a flexible wrap or as a closure material, with the majority featuring a liner applied either as a laminate or coating. Cartons are especially useful for pharmaceuticals, as well as food, hardware and other products.

Where the pharmaceutical industry differs from others, perhaps, is that packaging of some medications will need to take into account easy dispensation, child-resistance and user-friendliness for older people, while simultaneously being identifiable, functional and possibly even hermetically sealed.

The external image of the packaging must provide clear and concise product identification, as well as providing information relating to the contents of the package, such as batch number, expiry date, storage conditions, the manufacturer’s name and address, and so on. It’s also important that the package assists in patient compliance and should be designed in an attractive way.

It’s vital that fragile products are protected from damage in transit, damage that can easily happen to pharmaceutical products because many feature the likes of vials, syringes, small bottles, ampules and more which all require gentle handling. This particular industry has very exacting packaging needs and therefore different packaging materials may well be required from product to product.

If you’d like to find out more, get in touch with us here at Co-Packer today.