Aging population: Challenges and opportunities for the medical and pharmaceutical industry
According to the Global Health and Aging Report by the World Health Organization (WHO), “The number of people aged 65 or older is projected to grow from an estimated 524 million in 2010 to nearly 1.5 billion in 2050, with most of the increase in developing countries.”(1)
The WHO attributes this significant increase in the elderly population to extended life expectancy, which will also involve a change in the major cause of death from infections to chronic noncommunicable diseases. Particularly in high-income countries, conditions that are often related to obesity, including hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes and heart disease, are having a major impact on the aging population, along with chronic diseases, such as arthritis, cancer and dementia.
Biologics and wearables: Linked Phenomena
In this scenario, where healthcare costs continue to climb due to the aging population biological drugs have revolutionized disease treatment and the companies who develop them have grown in parallel with this. Global biological drug sales are expected to grow from $161 billion in 2014 to $287 billion by 2020, with a projected annual growth rate of 10.1%, according to Roots Analysis.(2)
Biological drugs, especially monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and recombinant proteins, allow the pharmaceutical industry to treat critical diseases that were viewed as incurable in the past.
It is clear that the reasons behind this escalated growth include the progressive switch from blockbuster medicine to personalized treatments and the growing trend to treat patients outside hospitals, especially those who suffer from a chronic disease requiring the use of auto-injectors and wearable devices.
Drug delivery systems, notably wearables, auto-injectors and pen injectors, have the potential to generate a significant reduction in total healthcare costs by allowing patients to self-inject a therapy without medical supervision or additional equipment. Enabling patients to self-administer during the course of their normal daily lives, such as at home, at work or even in a café, can significantly improve their quality of life and potentially increase therapy compliance.
From the pharmaceutical industry point of view, however, biological drugs are very challenging to stabilize and administer, especially in a syringe or other drug delivery device, due to their complexity, sensitivity and viscosity. These challenges require a new generation of glass containers that enable give functionality to drug delivery systems, thus ensuring reliability and patient safety.
Nexa EZ-fill: Quality & Performance for your most demanding drugs
Ompi, the Stevanato Group subsidiary specializing in glass primary packaging, has leveraged its expertise in the manufacturing of cartridges and syringes in a ready-to-fill format called EZ-fill to develop a breakthrough solution that addresses some of the most challenging needs in drug delivery systems. EZ-fill has the widest range of sterile, depyrogenated and ready-to-fill glass containers for pharmaceutical applications.
Nexa EZ-fill cartridges syringes are specifically designed to ensure excellent mechanical resistance compared to a standard container, ultra-low particle content and high cosmetic quality, thus guaranteeing excellent compatibility with pen devices and wearables. Nexa is the top-of-the-range solution in the EZ-fill platform.
EZ-fill World, your primary packaging market standard
In this evolving market context, pharmaceutical companies are moving away from a traditional, top-down model towards a flexible approach that offers personalized, safe and effective treatments, often based on highly potent drugs. This quest for flexibility translates into production in small batches and cutting down on non-core activities for the sake of efficiency.
More flexibility and reduced cost of ownership
EZ-fill is the only customizable solution available in the market with a double configuration: in nest-and-tub form for vials and cartridges small batches and in tray for their industrial production, and in a nest-and-tub for syringes. Thanks to its ready-to-fill format, Ompi’s EZ-fill range of containers leverages the common characteristics of the different container fill-finish processes by using a common multi-product line. This allows pharmaceutical companies to focus on their core activities, lower their footprint and reduce their total cost related to personnel and utilities.
Reduced time-to-market
Over the years, its proven advantages have led this processing technology to be adopted as a standard by numerous glass primary packaging manufacturers. Pharmaceutical and biotech customers can benefit from an easy, flexible and streamlined process as they can immediately fill the ready-to-use vials or cartridges and shorten their time to market.
Increased quality: Ensuring patient safety
Patient safety is at the heart of container design and engineering. Through the separation of all containers in the secondary packaging, Ompi EZ-fill ensures maximum integrity of the container during the transportation phase and in the buffering/in-feeding operations, while ensuring no glass-to-glass contact.
This allows for an effective mitigation of the risk of breakages, cosmetic issues and particle generation. This in turn brings significant advantages, both from the mechanical and the performance point of view, because it dramatically reduces production stops and rejects during inspection.
References:
1- Global Heath and Aging, World Health Organization, 2011
2- Large Volume Wearable Injectors 2014-2025, Roots Analysis