UPM Raflatac and Corning Conduct Collaborative Study to Help Advance Sustainability in Pharma Packaging

UPM Raflatac, a global supplier of self-adhesive paper and film products, and Corning Pharmaceutical Technologies, a division of Corning Incorporated, one of the world’s leading innovators in materials science, have today announced the results of a collaborative study. The results show that a combination of the two companies’ products performs well in a variety of challenging drug product storage conditions and offers significant sustainability benefits for pharmaceutical industry innovators.

Such performance is vital to the safety and integrity of pharmaceutical products and aligns with industry needs for durable and dependable packaging. In the collaborative study conducted at UPM Raflatac’s North Carolina facility, teams from both companies combined pharmaceutical primary packaging and labeling solutions. The pairings were tested at room temperature, dry heat, tropical, and cryogenic storage conditions.

The combinations included Corning® Viridian® Vials, made of externally coated Type I borosilicate glass, and UPM Raflatac's Forest Film™ labels, alongside PHARMAGLOSS and PHARMALITE downgauged paper options. The product combinations performed well, showing that a pairing of Corning and UPM Raflatac products can hold up in tough environments. In particular, the labels demonstrated satisfactory adhesion across a variety of wrap angles and storage conditions applied in pharma packaging.

- We greatly appreciate UPM Raflatac’s expertise in label technology and its rigorous methods in demonstrating the effectiveness of labeling solutions for our shared pharma customers, said Jessica Buday, Product Line Manager for Corning® Velocity® Vials and Viridian Vials at Corning Pharmaceutical Technologies. - This study represents an example of how important it is for pharma suppliers to collaborate and ensure our solutions are compatible in a way that meets customer requirements, particularly with the increasing demand for sustainability.

The tested pairing of UPM Raflatac and Corning products provided sustainability benefits without sacrificing performance. UPM Raflatac’s Forest Film™ label is the world’s first ISCC-certified wood-based plastic label material. This bio-circular solution reduces the use of fossil-based plastics and is made with bio-naphtha (mass balance approach), which is derived from wood-based crude tall oil, a residue of the pulping process. This product also provides up to a 42% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to conventional fossil-based plastics.* PHARMAGLOSS and PHARMALITE downgauged paper options also reduce environmental impact through a reduced material weight. Additionally, Corning’s Viridian vials use 20% less glass material than a conventional vial, achieving up to a 30% reduction in Scope 3 cradle-to-gate emissions.

- We’re thrilled to work with Corning to help bring sustainability to the forefront of pharma packaging, said Sean Flanagan, Product Development Manager, UPM Raflatac. - Our shared customers can trust that these solutions are safe, effective, and tested to performance standards, offering them a smoother pathway to sustainable innovation.

For more insights into this collaboration, watch UPM Raflatac and Corning’s recent “Transforming Pharma Packaging” webinar, in which representatives of the two companies discussed best practices for sustainable packaging along the value chain.