Packaging Expert Extends Extractables and Leachables Range of Analyses

SCHOTT has experienced a strong demand for laboratory services related to extractables and leachables (E&L) and therefore continued to expand this range of analyses offered to its customers. At international trade fair Pharmapack Europe, the German group of companies announced this extension of its services.

Extractables and leachables are substances, which can be dissolved and released from the constituent parts — glass, metals, rubber, lubricants, adhesives, etc. — of the packaging materials that form the container system. To determine any possible interactions with the drugs and exclude them, pharmacists are obliged to perform extensive studies. This procedure is mainly intended for the protection of patients. “Through our extended service offering, we are able to support pharmaceutical customers even more efficiently in the assessment of risks,” said Dr. Uwe Rothhaar, Director of SCHOTT Pharma Services division.

By strengthening the E&L range of analyses, SCHOTT Pharma Services underlines its position as an experienced partner for pharmacists who benefit not only from SCHOTT’s decades of expertise but also from a combination of laboratory services.

Since, as early as in 1911, the SCHOTT group started to produce pharmaceutical containers made of glass and, at a later date, also commenced to manufacture pharmaceutical packagings such as ampoules, vials, cartridges and syringes, the company has built up comprehensive product and process know-how. Furthermore, SCHOTT maintains a basic research centre for glass by itself. This know-how and these professional skills have been pooled in the SCHOTT pharma services division and since 2009 have also been available to enterprises outside the group.

“An increasing number of drug manufacturers ask us to test their outer packages. The spectrum ranges from the analysis of interactions between drug and packaging materials to fracture and strength tests,” stated Rothhaar. His team offers a wide range of analytical services based on the modern instruments of a laboratory that benefits from continuous investment. In addition, the resources of the central Research and Technology Development division of SCHOTT — located in the same building in Mainz, Germany, as well as in Duryea, US — can be called on as well. The entire laboratory as well as its operations and processes are accredited to DIN EN ISO 17025.

SCHOTT AG, +49 6131 66 7339, pharma.services@schott.com, www.schott.com.