Ineos Films tackling US market
try and grab a slice of the PVC blister film market from the
dominant figure Klockner.
The European firm is setting up a dedicated calendar line at its Delaware facility for making PVC thermoforming (blister) film for pharmaceutical packaging. It should be fully operational in June, a company spokesperson from Ineos told Outsourcing-Pharma.com at the recent Interphex trade show in New York. The facility also has a new dedicated slitting room which is already operational and currently serving some of its large pool of customers from Germany, with room for further expansion once it gains new US business. The spokesperson described the environment of the new slitting room as "unique" due to its "clean vision systems that catch any 'bugs' without the need for manual inspection". Currently this type of monitoring system is used in calendaring but not in slitting operations. The Delaware facility, acquired in 2005 is the first foray into the lucrative American market for Ineos films. "Currently we dominate the European market while Klockner dominates the US," said the spokesperson, however, "with our flagship facility we plan to position ourselves in the US market as the only company that supplies the resin for the film and makes the film and so can offer our customers cost savings." The pharmaceutical blister film market is growing as more packaging designs incorporate blisters for convenience of drug administration for patients as well as greater tablet protection and stability. In addition, the industry is also experiencing a shift from using mono PVC to barrier PVC film as drugs are being developed with more sensitive active ingredients and greater resiliency is being required due to transportation and storage. Europe has embraced the blister - around 95 per cent of drugs distributed in Europe now come blister-packaged, however, the US blister market is waiting to be captured as 80 per cent of solid dosage forms are still packaged in bottles. "This is slowly changing," said the spokesperson, who also indicated that the company may look at starting to produce barrier PVC pharma packaging in the US if the demand is there.
