6 Simple Benefits of Blister Packaging

After 20+ years spent designing specialty packaging for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, I’ve learned a thing or two about what works and why. One of the conversations that has been debated is around choosing between blister packaging and a traditional pill bottle. While both certainly have a place in the industry, blister packaging is superior in my opinion, outshining a pill bottle for several reasons. From simple time-saving conveniences—like not having to count individual pills—to life changing benefits—such as keeping a child safe—blister packaging is the clear winner. Here are my top 6 reasons customers should consider blister packaging.

1 – More Efficient Barrier Properties: Sensitive formulas and medications require packaging with barrier properties to protect them from degrading over time, providing a minimum two-year shelf life. The barrier can be tailored specifically to the product needs, without over packaging to meet requirements.

2 – Child Resistant (CR) and Senior Friendly (SF): Blister packaging is tested for both child resistance and senior friendly characteristics. Most child poisonings happen because a cap was left off a pill bottle … this doesn’t happen with blister packaging. Each dose in blister packaging is child resistant, where when a cap is left off a bottle a child gains access to every single pill.

3 – Compliance: With blister packaging, you can easily see if the dose has been taken and on which day. It has been proven that blister packaging aids in ensuring medications are taken correctly. Blister packaging also aids the manufacturer and the efficacy of their drug because patients aren’t forgetting to take their pills, which in turn helps the manufacturer’s revenue.

4 – No Counting: Blister packaging does not require a pharmacist to count out doses from a larger bottle. In addition to this being a timesaver, it ensures medications are accounted for and delivered properly.

5 – Labeling: Each dose in a blister pack, even when it is separated from the full pack, has all the required identification information included on it.

6 – Travel: For the consumer, blister packs are more portable and can easily be taken on a plane when traveling. For the product maker, blisters are lighter and more compact than bottles, so they cost less to transport. Additionally, blister packaging is often easily approved by customs agents since the product is clearly labeled.   

More and more, we are seeing a shift to blister packaging, and for good reason. For more information about packaging for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, reach out and let’s talk.