Pharmaceutical Packaging Growth Opportunities

The Growing Pipeline of Temperature-sensitive Biologics Products and Healthcare Stakeholders’ Higher Stake in Patient Health Outcomes Will Drive Investments

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only revealed supply chain challenges in terms of meeting pandemic-induced demand but also showcased weaknesses with regard to facing disruptions on a global scale. Immediate impacts include supply volatility, steep price increases, and high levels of uncertainty.

Despite the manufacturing reboot, supply chain interruptions have created a ripple effect. In addition, the lack of time stamps across the supply chain and the poor tracing of the chain of custody of drugs have reduced the shelf life of existing inventory and increased wastage-related risks.

With the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine receiving FDA approval, the Moderna and the Johnson & Johnson vaccines reaching patients under emergency use authorization (EUA), and the authorization of booster doses, an exemplary supply chain is required, and it must comprise capabilities for direct shipment to point of use, local cross-docking of cooling boxes, and local warehousing. Considering the stringent storage requirements for vaccines, a robust cold-chain network for transportation and storage must be established. Therefore, local manufacturing deals, supply chain investments, and packaging innovation will continue to play important roles in the global push for immunization.

For the biopharma industry, positive long-term developments and growth opportunities can outweigh the detrimental short-term impacts of the ongoing pandemic. The industry will witness increased digitalization to build more resilient supply chains to drive flexibility and transparency across manufacturing, packaging, and documentation across the chain of custody.

This study will:

• Provide an overview of the evolving pharmaceutical packaging industry ecosystem, with a focus on the billion-dollar growth opportunities in drug delivery packaging.
• Highlight the potential disruptions in pharmaceutical packaging caused by blockchain technology, sensors, RFID, NFC, wearable technology, microchips, green NFC, and single-use products.
• Address how innovative packaging solutions are overcoming key challenges such as drug counterfeiting, the localization of fill and finish, operational costs, complex supply chains, cold-chain handling, and chemical degradation and leaching.