Global contract packaging organization (CPO) Tjoapack has invested in its blistering capacity, adding a new line that will be equipped with late-stage customization printing capabilities.

Expected to be operational by the end of the third quarter this year, the new line, at the company’s facility in Etten-Leur, Netherlands, will take its total number of blistering lines to eight.

“At Tjoapack we’re committed to ensuring our customers continue to receive the efficient and flexible service that they’re used to, so we’re always looking for ways to further improve our operations to allow us to better cater for their projects,” said Dexter Tjoa, director of corporate strategy, Tjoapack. “We have a strategic growth plan in place and increasing our blistering capacity will allow us to cater for increasing demand from both current and new customers.”

The investment will also expand Tjoapack’s current postponement printing offering, enabling the CPO to offer drop-on-demand digital printing for blisters. 

“Late-stage customization, or postponement printing, is something that is presenting some interesting benefits for the pharmaceutical supply chain,” said Mr. Tjoa. “The process of only making packaging market-specific once there is a demand could be hugely beneficial in terms of reducing waste from repackaging, overall costs and time to market. We’ve started to explore this type of packaging with some of our customers already and as more complex molecules continue to enter the drug pipeline, demand for last-minute packaging is likely to increase. This investment will allow us to futureproof our lines for projected demands.”

This latest investment will be supported by continued growth of the CPO’s commercial, operational and quality teams.

Founded in 1989, Tjoapack is an independent contract packager of medicines servicing clients across five continents and 42 countries.

The CPO specializes in primary packaging for solid dosage forms, secondary packaging and unit dose packaging and now has a total of 19 packaging lines for blisters, wallets and bottles. Using these lines, it packages around 26 million packs of pharmaceutical products per year, which equates to around 1.4 billion tablets.