On Sept. 15, 2022, Shanghai issued the Guideline for Drug Packaging Reduction—Tablet and Capsule (hereafter referred to as the Guideline), jointly formulated by Shanghai Metrology Association (SMA) and Shanghai Institute of Quality Inspection and Technical Research (SQI). As a group standard, the Guideline will take effect on SMA members starting from Sept. 30, 2022.
Packaging Guidance and Requirements
The Guideline gives advice and raises requirements for reducing excessive packaging for tablets and capsules.
For middle packages, the Guidelines recommends manufacturers to consider replacing excessive paper boxes with plastic wraps.
*Middle package refers to the package between the smallest unit / inner package and the biggest package / outer package.
In terms of packages for transportation, the Guidelines notes that different kinds of paper boxes can substitute the uniform boxes to better meet the needs for storage at different temperatures.1
The Guideline requires pharmaceutical packaging to be no more than three layers and the package void rates to be limited according to the drug amounts.
Influences on Pharma Manufacturers
According to Shanghai Tenry Pharmaceutical, by following the Guideline, the company can save nearly one million cost on procuring packages every year.2 Thus, instead of spending unnecessary cost on excessive packaging, pharm accompanies can use the saved money for developing new drugs.
Tenry and other 17 local pharma manufacturers in Shanghai, including Sine Pharmaceuticals and Sino-American Shanghai Squibb Pharmaceutical, have pledged to obey the Guideline.
BaiPharm's Comment
Reducing superfluous drug packaging is one of the efforts toward China's "dual carbon goals"—achieving carbon emission peak before 2030 and carbon neutrality (net carbon emissions reaching zero) before 2060. Less unnecessary packaging means less carbon generated during the production of packaging materials.
In addition, pharma companies will need to achieve the balance between reducing packaging and keeping the drug quality and efficacy. Packaging reduction should be customized to different drugs according to different storage and transportation requirements.
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