Chief Guest’s Address

Dr A Ramkishan, Deputy Drugs Controller (India), CDSCO Hyderabad Zonal Office, before delivering his talk at the conclave, paid tribute to the corona warriors and observed a minute of silence for all those who lost their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sharing his thoughts on pharma packaging with the audience, he said that since the common man is not aware of pharma packaging, and is dependent on pharma manufacturers, it’s the responsibility of all those working in the pharma packaging domain to take care of effective packing – strip packing, blister packing, bulk packing, etc.

“Various mechanisms are involved in the protection of pharma medical products. Therefore, unless it is protected, it is difficult to retain the potency of that product. At present, the pharma market stands approximately at $50 billion. In 1998, it was just $8 billion. In the past 25 years, the has reached $50 billion. In that, the Indian pharma packaging market is $1,434 million,” he notified.

When the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is conducting audits in India, when our manufacturers are having a thought process towards changing their important activities for export markets, particularly developed countries, then a lot of importance took place for packaging – maybe primary packaging, secondary packaging, tertiary packaging, including corrugated cartons, he emphasised.

“Primary packaging material goes intact with a product. So, it’s going to have direct interaction and impact with respect to protection against any important external influences – maybe moisture, dust particles, gases, etc. As per the regulations, one has to protect the product and potency should be retained within the item/product, as far as the requirement of a batch is concerned. It has to meet its potency till its expiry date. It should have a proper, intact quality without undergoing any degradation or damage with respect to the retainment of important potency,” he said.