Ceepackaging

Events

Award for Gerresheimer

Tablets and pills are highly sensitive to moisture. In high-quality tablet
containers the desiccant elements which provide protection against the
effects of moisture have for some time been incorporated directly in the
closure. Under the standards which have so far applied, however, the
desiccant element which absorbs moisture was produced separately from
the actual closure and incorporated only later as an outsourced component.
The pharmaceutical plastic experts in Gerresheimer’s plant in Vaerloese in
Denmark disliked this circuitous approach not only for logistical but also
economic reasons: “Our principle is to offer the pharma industry everything
from a single source as far as possible”, comments Burkhard Lingenberg,
Director of Corporate PR and Marketing for the Gerresheimer Group: “This
ingenious innovation once again demonstrates how important that is. It
optimises a whole product category and simplifies procedures right
through to the registration process.”
Gerresheimer’s Plastic Packaging Division conceived a fully integrated
production method which was met with open arms by the pharma industry.
At its plant in Vaerloese, Gerresheimer set up state-of-the-art clean-room
production facilities which now manufacture the desiccant closures
completely in one continuous process with fully automated control and
monitoring. For the international tablet market this development is a so-far
unique advance. In the view of experts it is likely to establish itself eventually
as a new standard across a wide front. Efforts by individual competitors to copy the integrated concept have in the meantime become evident, they say.

Gerresheimer realises its closure concept in two patient-oriented variants
which are also tamper-evident, namely the Duma® Twist-Off Cap and the
Duma® HandyCap with a simple press-on action. The concept convinced the
German Packaging Award jury particularly because of the new safety
dimensions thereby achieved, but also won points for economy, shortening
of bureaucratic registration procedures and the exemplary quality of design
for the filling process as well as for end users. At the award ceremony in
Nuremberg on 24 September, the jury commented that well-thought-out
sophisticated innovations like this showed what far-ranging benefits can be
offered today to its target markets by intelligent packaging development.
Niels Duering, Head of Gerresheimer Plastic Packaging Division, beamed
with pride as he accepted the trophy: “For my whole team and for myself
this honour is a source of real pleasure right now, but also an incentive in
our work on further innovations,” he said.
The German Packaging Award, for which applications are invited internationally,
is seen as the ‘Oscar’ for the industry and enjoys a high level of
worldwide regard. This year the coveted award was made for the thirtieth
time. The initiator and annual organiser is the German Packaging Institute,
which in this way seeks - across all market segments – to nurture meaningful
innovations and stimulate sophisticated developments in the industry. A
total of around 300 participants in five categories competed for the 2007
trophy. The keenly awaited announcement was a highpoint at the start of
the international FachPack trade fair.
This is not the first time that Gerresheimer as a pharma specialist has been
crowned with success for innovative developments in high-calibre contests.
Just last year its Rigid Needle Shield – providing protection of the needle
and also protection against injury from syringes – first of all won the
German Packaging Award and then, to crown it all, the WorldStar award of
the World Packaging Organisation.