Gerresheimer receives the WorldStar

For a highly innovative pharma closure system under the Duma® trademark, Gerresheimer after receiving the 2007 German Packaging Award now also receives the internationally coveted WorldStar. Through this award the World Packaging Organisation (WPO) crowns a groundbreaking new product concept for the large market of tablet containers. Through a fundamentally new production concept, this has succeeded in substantially increasing the safety and economy of moisture-absorbing desiccant closures and thereby also made them easier to use for the pharmaceutics industry - according to the jury´s statement of the reasons for its decision at the end of October in Athens. Among the WorldStar award winners, the Gerresheimer innovation was furthermore nominated for the President´s Award - the highest distinction in the industry around the world.

The principle of desiccant closures is not new. Capsules filled with desiccants (drying agents) have for decades been integrated in the lid of high-quality tablet containers in order to protect sensitive medicines against moisture from the air. Completely new standards have now been set by Gerresheimer however with a production concept whereby such closures are created in a single location as totally homogenous systems: the Group is the first manufacturer in the world to produce the multifunctional closures in an interconnected process chain.

"In the past the general practice was to outsource the desiccant capsules and integrate them in the pre-manufactured caps only at a later stage," explains Burkhard Lingenberg, Director of Marketing und Communication for the Gerresheimer Group: "This led not only to additional transportation but also for example to more complex
registration procedures for the pharma industry". This is because, for safety reasons, the law requires that all drug-packaging components which come from various manufacturers must also be registered separately. Market observers assume that the benchmark now established by Gerresheimer will sooner or later advance to become
the general market standard: activity among individual manufacturers to convert their own production is already reported to be evident.

The innovation was developed in Gerresheimer´s Danish competence centre in Værløse, which specialises in pharmaceutical plastic packaging and has ranked among the European market leaders in this field for a considerable time. For the new system closures the company operates its own local clean-room production with fully automated control and checking systems. Customers can now also choose between two patient-oriented versions, both of which are furthermore tamper-evident: in addition to the ‘Duma® Twist-Off´ cap, the range also includes a snap-action cap in the new category, the ‘´Duma® Handy-Cap´.

Just in September Gerresheimer was honoured for the futureoriented development by the German Packaging Award for which the German Packaging Institute (dvi) annually invites applicants from across Europe. Success in this strictly regulated competition is in itself regarded as an authoritative recommendation throughout the world. As the sole German industry organisation this prestigious institute also has a seat and a vote in the global contest for the WorldStar award. Competition winners from a total of thirty-two countries stood for this year´s world cup. The official award ceremony will take place on 20 May 2008 at a gala event to be held by the World Packaging Organisation in the Ghanaian capital Accra.

Until then it remains to be seen whether the elite distinction for Gerresheimer may possibly be ennobled even further. That the internationally composed WorldStar jury attaches outstanding significance to the innovative closures is shown by a nomination for the additional President´s Award of the WPO. As candidates for this super trophy only six of the twenty-five WorldStar award winners in 2007 have been nominated.