packaging

Question 1

Types of glass

Answer 1

Question 2

Plastic

Answer 2

Advantages: Less weight than glass, flexible, variety of sizes and shapes, essentially chemically inert, strong, rigid, extremely resistant to breakage.

Disadvantages: Absorption permeable to moisture and other volatiles, can leach plasticisers etc.

Question 3

Metals

Answer 3

Advantages: They are impermeable to light, moisture and gases, rigid unbreakable containers, light in weight compared to glass containers.

Disadvantages: Expensive, react with certain chemicals.

Question 4

Rubber

Answer 4

Rubber is used mainly for the construction of closures for vials and as washers/seals in aerosol cans. Silicon rubber is by far the preferred type, due to extremely low absorption and permeability of water, and excellent aging characteristic, but they are very expensive.

Butyl, nitrile and chloroprene rubber are also used where required. They are cheaper and have different characteristics and resistance to certain components, but have disadvantages of poor aging and extractable characteristics.

Question 5

Extractables and Leechables

Answer 5

Extractables are chemical entities, both organic and inorganic, that will extract from components of a container closure system or device into solvents under controlled conditions. They are used to identify and qualify potential leachables” (Moffatt, 2010).

Leachables are chemical entities, both organic and inorganic, that migrate from components of a container closure system or device into a drug product over the course of its shelf-life. Leachables are usually present in drug product matrices as complex mixtures at trace levels relative to the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) (Moffatt, 2010).