The pharmaceutical industry continues to recognize the importance of packaging. No longer an afterthought that happens when the important stuff is finished, primary and particularly secondary packaging play an essential and integral role in the drug production and delivery system process. Packaging is being carefully considered in the early production stages in all manufacturing practices, with pharmaceutical brands designing their packaging to serve multiple roles.

We called on some of today’s leading contract packaging organizations (CPOs) to discuss trends in the market, which is, by all accounts, one that continues to grow. By 2019 it is expected to exceed $100 billion. The executives we spoke to for this roundtable concurred that there is a growing need for their services. You can hear them talk about the key issues and challenges impacting and driving the industry as well as their businesses forward. Panelists include: Tee Noland, CEO, Pharma Tech Industries; Reid Lederer, president, Pharma Packaging Solutions; Eric Tjoa, CEO, Tjoapack; and Larry Hotz, marketing manager, WDPrx – Woodfield Pharmaceutical, LLC.

With regards to secondary packaging trends, Rupert Taylor, global category manager of healthcare and personal care at Essentra, says there is an increasing trend within the pharmaceutical industry to use packaging to address one of the biggest challenges facing the sector: patient adherence. He says packaging can improve adherence from a user perspective by providing additional information and detail, ensuring patients have a fuller knowledge of their treatment and thus help to avoid misunderstanding.

In this issue we also look at M&A trends in the contract services space. Contract Pharma’s Kristin Brooks covers M&A activity among CMOs and CDMOs. She says the demand for greater capacity, advanced technologies, and global infrastructure, for increasingly complex drug products, namely biologics, has prompted a flurry of M&A activity within the past nine months.

In the contract research space, where there was a lot of M&A activity during the ten-year period between 2005-2015, Craig Morgan, head of marketing at goBalto, says the movement towards consolidation has continued in order to expand capabilities and reach to service large global studies. He contends that while CRO consolidation may create some disruption in the short-term, having less CROs available for sponsors may ultimately provide some benefit.

In addition to these articles there are plenty more features covering Global Regulatory Collaboration; Batch vs. Continuous Mfg.; and Analytical Method Transfer Best Practices, among others. Hope you enjoy! As always, drop me a line to share your thoughts.

Tim Wright, Editor
twright@rodmanmedia.com