The pharmaceutical industry has evolved far beyond medicine ever imagined. Drugs are being manufactured that can treat the rarest of all ailments, and they can even treat sicknesses of the mind as well as the body. If someone is suffering from a basic kind of illness, they can pick up some pills and feel better almost immediately.
These drugs can also be dangerous if the people using them don’t handle them right. And pharmaceutical packagers are some of the most responsible people for making sure people correctly take their medicine. Pharmaceutical packaging can be used to instruct people about their medication and what it does to them.
It’s federal law for pharmaceutical packagers to inform people about medicine on the package. It’s the simplest way to guarantee that people have the information they need to stay safe while treating themselves. Failing to follow the law won’t just lead to severe fines — it will also hurt people.
Keep reading below to learn how you can follow the law and make the best pharmaceutical packaging possible!
Drugs Can be Dangerous
Medicine is meant to cure sicknesses and help people recover from whatever they’re suffering from. Yet, most modern medicine alters fundamental parts of a person’s biology, and as a result, they can also inflict massive harm. Not everyone’s biologies are exactly the same, and so medicine can affect people differently.
For example, most people wouldn’t think twice about taking nitrous oxide before undergoing minor surgery. It’s the go-to general anesthesia that most doctors prefer to use on their patients. Yet, there are conditions like malignant hyperthermia, which basically makes anesthesia poisonous.
If doctors don’t know about how nitrous oxide affects people, they may inadvertently kill someone. And the best way to warn doctors about the dangers of the medicine they use is by putting them on the medicine’s packaging. Doctors aren’t the only ones who need to stay informed about what medicine does, either.
Medicines should be marked with warnings if they contain typical allergens that may harm people. They should also be marked with significant side effects so that average people can gauge whether it’s safe to take something on their own. Not everyone can afford a doctor to determine whether it’s safe to take certain medicines, so packagers should do it for them!
Pharmaceutical Packagers Think About Function Before Form
Most medicines are complex and sensitive conglomerations of different chemical compounds. There’s a reason most medicine packaging always looks the same — it’s almost guaranteed to interfere with drug’s medicinal properties. By using the wrong kind of plastic or wrapping, you may accidentally change the drug’s properties.
That means pharmaceutical packagers should learn about the medicine they’re handling before packaging it. They should know whether a particular kind of plastic will change medicine’s properties. And most of all, they should try to keep the medication safe from any other types of environmental factors.
Keep reading below to learn more about how packagers should approach packaging medicine!
Drug Packages Should Protect Against Outside Influencers
Medicine’s packaging serves one fundamental purpose that all packagers should strive for: to protect it. While the packaging may make medicine look good and may inform people about its contents, those are secondary goals. The most crucial part of packaging medicine is making sure it’s protected from the outside environment.
Since medicine is so complex and sensitive, it needs to be protected from anything that may alter it. There are too many different kinds of factors to account for from the environment. One environmental factor stands out against all the rest: water.
Some pills may be water-soluble and may degrade when exposed to any kind of water. As a result, packagers should always strive to make their packaging water-resistant. This means sealing pill packages tightly and securely and using a durable material to cover it.
Packages Should Protect Against Physical Damage
Water and environment factors aren’t the only dangers posed to people’s pills. Physical damage is always a threat when handling any kind of product, and medicine is especially sensitive to physical damage. It can be easily crushed into fine dust, and a single chip may change the way it works.
While packages should try to protect pills by giving them room to rattle around, sometimes that isn’t enough. Warnings should be clear that people shouldn’t take pills if they’re damaged in any way. They should also be separated into individual compartments.
That way if one pill is damaged, it may not affect the whole prescription. It will be contained in its individual compartment, and the user will know to avoid it due to the warnings.
Choose the Right Container for Your Medicine
Packagers have hard decisions to make when trying to choose the right way to ship medicine. Some kinds of medicine are better suited for traditional packagings that people see in drug stores. These usually feature elegant designs on small boxes, with pills sorted into individual compartments within it.
Some kinds of medicines aren’t pills though, or simply can’t be kept in a box and shipped like typical products. For drugs like these, most packagers prefer using bottles or tubes of some sort. Liquid medicine is especially tricky to find the right packaging for.
Since liquid medicine stands a better chance of absorbing external materials, it’s packaging must be well-designed. The plastic must be designed to avoid degradation of any kind. The cap must also do more than keep the medicine inside. It also needs to everything out.
In fact, the cap is one of the most critical parts of any medical packaging. It doesn’t matter if it’s a traditional orange bottle, an off-the-counter kind of medicine, or a liquid one. The cap should be designed to keep everything out and ensure that only the person who needs the medication can access it.
It’s Hard Enough to Get Treatment
It’s hard enough for people to afford traditional treatment, no matter their sickness. Nothing is worse than finally getting your hands on the medicine you need to get better, only to find that its contents are ruined due to inadequate packaging. Pharmaceutical packagers play just as important a role as doctors and pharmacists.
They ensure that medicine won’t accidentally hurt people and that it stays safe as it’s transported. Without an excellent pharmaceutical packager, it doesn’t matter how effective medicine is. The packager must be just as good as the medicine being packaged.
And for packagers that understand your needs, just contact us here. Our packaging machines and renowned service will help make sure your medicine actually helps people and gets where it’s going!