The pharma sector may be watching the pennies, but equipment manufacturers are still focused on delivering enhancements as well, says Ian Crawford, group exhibition director for the PPMA Show 2009
Despite a prediction in last year's Business Monitor International report that the UK pharma sector would continue to develop strongly, achieving a value of US$35.2bn (Euro 24.5bn; £20.8bn) by 2012, the sector remains under the same costs pressures as any other.
Gone are the days when a manufacturing plant could run a patented drug at no more than 50-60% capacity, since the value of the product meant costs were not a critical factor. Even where there is high demand for products, competition is fierce and the emphasis for every company is on maximising efficiencies and throughput and minimising costs.
The selection of processing and packaging equipment is no exception. Any new machinery needs to pay its way as quickly as possible, so features such as machine flexibility, quick changeover, cleanability and efficiency are vital and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is a major factor in purchasing decisions.
This focus on low-cost sourcing has also led to pharmaceutical companies looking outside the traditional technology sources of Western Europe, the US and Japan to find alternatives from emerging economies such as India and China. Although currently much of the machinery is not made to international standards, many observers believe that these competitors are gaining strength and slowly closing the gap on their western counterparts.
Western manufacturers have responded by introducing more entry-level equipment and by developing modular systems that can be tailored to individual requirements according to price and performance needs.
A complicating factor in the drive for lower-cost equipment is the ever-growing number of pharmaceutical products on the market, which means that production runs are becoming smaller. Increasingly segmented product ranges, simplified dosage requirements and minimised stock holdings are all factors in the decreasing size of an average packing lot for non-generic pharmaceuticals, which today can typically be fewer than 5,000 units.
At the same time, the products themselves are becoming more complex and sophisticated, creating added challenges for equipment manu-facturers. For example, new formulations may require novel delivery systems or special equipment may need to be developed for dosage compliance. This in turn will have an influence on the packaging that is required. The rapid development of products using biotech and nano technologies is also starting to open up a whole new area of opportunities - and challenges - for equipment manufacturers.
Even the most established forms of pharmaceutical packaging are not immune to new developments. More complicated blister pack designs - such as chevron shaped formats that allow more product to be packed in one blister, packs that incorporate two or more different products, or a "looped cycle" layout where the first dose has to be isolated and highlighted, with one blister form placed on its own at a right angle to the other lines of capsules - and the introduction of new products in blisters such as oral dispersible tablets, are influencing the development of new blister packing systems.
One solution to the demand for more sophisticated packs and packing systems for relatively short production runs has been the growth in Late Stage Customisation, where standard packs are customised at the last minute for specific end markets. This helps to minimise origination costs and reduce the number of changeovers required, while allowing packs to be tailored to meet different legislative requirements or supply to be concentrated towards markets where demand is heaviest.
In the processing sector, flexibility, adaptability and speed of cleaning are also vital. Recent developments such as vacuum injection in mixers, computerised raw material dispensing, more efficient CIP systems and new coating technologies have helped to improve productivity and versatility. Enhancements in containment and transfer technologies have responded to the need for tighter health and safety as the use of more potent ingredients has increased the volatility and toxicity of certain products.
No industry has to adhere more to the "right first time" requirement in processing and packing than the pharmaceutical industry, with its many rules and regulations - which can differ from country to country - and validation procedures. Work is therefore continuing in all areas of
in-line inspection and monitoring, while track & trace systems and new coding technologies such as RFID and 2D bar codes are key weapons in fighting the growing threat of the counterfeiters. However, the proliferation of different technologies and solutions can also present problems in a global marketplace and moves continue to achieve harmonisation and a single standard.
The busy new product development programmes of equipment suppliers reflect the fast pace of the pharmaceutical market. Certainly pharmaceutical visitors to the PPMA Show each year have regularly found new ideas and innovations, and the event at the NEC from 29 September to 1 October is likely to demonstrate in particular how machinery manufacturers are responding to the current economic challenges.
Furthermore, the Total Processing & Packaging exhibition at the NEC from 25-27 May 2010 will feature the Interphex Hub, specifically created to meet the needs of both exhibitors and visitors in the pharmaceutical sector by providing a focal point that groups all relevant supply companies together.
In these challenging times, a strong understanding and working partnership between pharmaceutical manufacturer and machinery supplier will be key to developing the next generation of processing and packing solutions, and there are likely to be plenty of interesting discussions at these forthcoming events.