What are the types of pharmaceutical packaging

Pharmaceutical packaging is extremely versatile in design and style. If you start looking for varieties you will find them endless. However, none of the design is unintentional. Each of them has some purposes to suit the medicine and its doses. Here are few basic types of pharmaceutical packaging used for tablets and capsules.

Bottles: Bottles are very common types of packaging for tablets and capsules. In early days, glass bottles were often used but today plastic bottles are more preferred, because of its non-breakable and non-reactive property. They are mostly available in dark color to protect the content from overexposure of light and heat. Still the bottles are see-through to allow patient faintly view the content inside. The bottles are tightly packed either with aluminium cap or plastic cap, depending on the type of content inside. This type of packaging is preferred for drugs that are mostly prescribed with doses on monthly basis. 

Blisters: Blister packs are also called bubble pack or unit pack. In this pack a plastic cardboard is laminated with aluminium or plastic sheet. Sometimes they are see-through and sometimes they are opaque. The choice of blister material depends on the type of content. This type of packaging is preferred for unit doses on weekly basis. The benefit of blister pack is that it is easier to keep track on number of doses consumed.

Foils: Foil packaging is a pure opaque pack that completely blocks the path of light. This is ideal for extra sensitive drugs. For this pharmaceutical packaging aluminium foils are used that laminated one after another with capsules/tablets in between. This is also a kind of unit packaging and are available in the pack of ten doses.