A cold season is starting and almost everyone has to visit the drugstore to have a particular medicine to cure himself. When I was in the drugstore and trying to pick a medicine that could cure all my symptoms, I found that there is no benchmark for pharmaceutical companies to package their medicines. When the doctor prescribes a medicine, usually an orange bottle with a white lid is given, but for over the counter medicine, there are many other options. It may seem finicking, but some medicine packaging are quite inconvenient and these made me think about the pros and cons of each type and why we select certain types over others:
- Over-the-Counter Drug Bottles: No one can deny that over the counter bottles are efficient, but the main problem is with its child-proof lid or foiled seal that makes it difficult for the adults to take them off. Though it is not a big issue these days. Plastic medicine bottles come with tamper-evident features so that if any foil seal is damaged, cotton filling at the top of the bottle is missing or the shrink band is broken, you could be able to know it. Although they are not much reliable but still it’s a good start and you can keep these medicine bottles in your cabinet easily and neatly. As compared to blister packaging, these bottles can hold many tablets.
- Blister Packages in Fiberboard Boxes: Fiberboard box with a leaf of blistered packaged pills are effective as these can easily tell how many tablets have been left without being interfered from anyone. One of the main advantages of blister packing in the medicine packaging boxes is that if it is tampered, not only the pills will be gone, but the customer can clearly identify it. Sometimes, if the pills are sealed with both paper and foil, then it’s difficult to get the medicine out of blister packing. Additionally, there is no genuine way of sealing the box again. During travelling, if you just throw this cardboard box into a bag or your pocket, it will be squeezed, though it will not damage your pills, but still, it is not the best way of packaging medicines.
- Eco-Friendly Packaging: These days, one of the modern methods that are used for packaging different medicines involves "molded fiber." The clamshell packaging has plastic ends at the front and back side and has a biodegradable nature. The front and back sides are made by shaping a package either into a traditional petroleum-based plastic packaging or on its own. These clamshell packages can be easily closed, have a tamper-evident feature and meet all the requirements of pharmaceutical companies. This packaging is also great as near its closing edge, there is a label that notifies what the medicine is used for instead of its name.
It's difficult to say whether these packaging styles will take over the traditional ones, but one thing is sure that most people just dislike the bottles being twisted so to search for the right medicine in cabinet.