Packaging is of critical importance to the medical and healthcare industries, affecting safety, functionality, compliance and speed-to-marketplace. On-going medical packaging research and development is projected to continue to produce sophisticated and technically advanced transparent products. The new generation products include smart films that absorb or emit various gases, films that incorporate antioxidants which are gradually diffused into the product, ozone emitting antibiotic film. Films for medical packaging under development include water-soluble films with a controlled solubility rate, films that can be gamma or electron-beam sterilized without degrading, downgauged high tensile strength film, films resistant to UV light, films with high processing heat tolerance, silica-coated films that impart barrier properties and clarity, and bio/photodegradable films suitable for medical packaging.

Mitsubishi Plastics has launched the super high gas barrier film X-BARRIER� - a modified film based on Mitsubishi's TECHBARRIER® technology that has been used in high performance food, medical, pharmaceutical and industrial packaging throughout the world since 1991. The main advantage of this new product is its water vapor barrier. With a water vapor transmission rate of 10-4 g/m2/day, this allows for flexible, roll-to-roll production of plastic electronics. This property has little deterioration even under long-term high temperature/humidity conditions. In addition to the water vapor barrier, other gas barrier properties are also at a high level. X-BARRIER� is a transparent material and is metal-free so contents are visible. Functions such as Gelbo-Flex durability, heat resistance, stability of gas barrier property under high temperature and high humidity, climate durability, chemical durability, anti-static electricity, electric insulation, heat resistance, flame resistance, high transparency, low contamination, etc., can be tailored to customer needs. Potential markets of X-BARRIER� for high performance packages are expected in the medical, pharmaceutical and industrial fields, especially for products such as catheters, surgical sutures, contact lenses, tablets, capsules, liquid products for parenteral nutrition, dialysis and hematal treatment, which require not only oxygen barrier but also high water vapor barrier.

Aclar Flex crystal clear PCTFE film fulfills a market need for transparent high-barrier medical packaging protection. It is a moisture barrier transparent film designed for medical flexible applications such as overwraps, medical bags, pouches and lidding. Produced by Honeywell Specialty Films using a special manufacturing process, it provides up to 10 times the barrier protection of conventional transparent packaging films such as PVC and PP. In addition to its excellent moisture barrier properties, the film is biochemically inert, chemically-resistant, plasticizer/stabilizer free, while its flex-crack-resistance exceeds oxide-coated barrier films and foils, and it can be sterilized using an autoclave or other sterilization methods. Moreover the film is metal detection system friendly. These properties make the fluoropolymer film extremely useful for packaging a variety of medical devices, diagnostic kits and other medical applications including new drug delivery technologies providing medicine that patients wear, is inhaled, or dissolves in the mouth, as well as micronized pulmonary delivery systems. The film's exceptional clarity permits healthcare staff and end users to visually inspect and identify contents of packages that once were opaque simplifying quality control and reducing medical errors. Chemical inertness allows contact with special medical solutions, diagnostic reagents, and pathology specimens and it can be sterilized using heat, gas, or gamma/beta irradiation. The film also laminates well to virtually any flexible or rigid substrate including PVC, PP, APET and PETG.
New films that make use of PVdC coated PVC are broadening protective blister packaging options to provide more cost-effective, higher-barrier film alternatives. Some of these recently developed films use Solvin SA's new Diofan Super B grades of PVdC. This high crystallinity PVdC offers greater barrier per unit weight than standard PVdC such that use of this next-generation PVdC allows processing costs to be minimized with fewer coating passes needed. In this way, Super B offers new options to undertake development of higher barrier films with lower coating weight and will redefine the mid-barrier range threshold, resulting in higher-barrier transparent films that measure favorably against higher grades of PCTFE.

Klöckner Pentaplast's new triplex configured PVC/PVdC/PVC film, Pentapharm alfoil E S03, employs Solvin's Super B PVdC, high crystallinity PVdC dispersion with better barrier properties and heat resistance than standard PVdC. The new transparent film- an extension of the leading film producer's PVdC coated polymer film product line is flexible enough to support bending without cracking and has barrier properties comparable to high barrier grades of Aclar. These new films are the only high moisture/oxygen barrier PVdC-coated films that have a three-layer symmetrical structure designed for higher performance on packaging lines. The films thermoform in the same temperature range as PVC mono film and the PVC skins provide a low coefficient-of-friction, to prevent blocking on preheat plates and supply more consistent material flow during the thermoforming process. These films seal well with all standard vinyl compatible lidstocks and comply with U.S. FDA pharmaceutical packaging requirements. The new Pentapharm alfoil E S03 is an economical barrier alternative to Aclar lower barrier grade films and provides a good cost barrier ratio relative to standard PVdC films. A 120-g-weight Pentapharm alfoil E S03 film has twice the oxygen barrier characteristics of a 90-g weight film using standard PVdC.