On the first morning of CPhI in Paris, contract manufacturer Almac announced that it has expanded its UK commercial packaging facility, and now offers a humidity-controlled blister packaging suite with off-line ‘just-in-time’ blister printing.
The investment has come off the back of requests from two Japanese clients, and included the installation of a new Noack 623 blister line, a custom designed desiccant feeder and an off-line Hapa Blister-Jet printer.
The Noack blister line is aimed at larger blister sizes and multi-product blister formats; it can be configured to process both thermoform and coldform materials, with maximum blister sizes of 220mm x 155mm. It features a desiccant feeder that cuts, picks and places reel-fed desiccant wafers into blister pockets.
An off-line Hapa Blister-Jet augments just-in-time production. It can also print country-specific artwork and variable data on each individual blister pocket.
David Downey, Almac’s VP of Commercial Operations said: “This co-investment allows Almac to address complex packaging challenges associated with innovative drug products that require enhanced environmental controls but, importantly, also provides our partners with the option to address modest country-specific market volumes, by off-line printing blank blisters through the Hapa unit. This solution will be of significant value to those companies launching orphan and niche blistered drug products into EU and ROW markets, many of which Almac already support.”