Europe Pharmaceutical Packaging Market Size

Europe Pharmaceutical Packaging Market Analysis

The Europe Pharmaceutical Packaging Market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of about 7.3% over the forecast period 2021 to 2026. The pharmaceutical Industry industry in Europe is experiencing constant disruption as it experiences exponential growth with the changing lifestyle and more and more people being diagnosed with various diseases and increased spending on healthcare by the government bodies. However, it continues to face challenges such as globalization of drug supply, rise in chronic lifestyle, and evolving threat concerning counterfeit medicine, among others.

The pharmaceutical packaging industry in the region plays a vital role in helping the evolving pharma industry to address the impact associated with challenges being felt across the market, ensuring the protection of drugs against all sorts of alteration in the properties caused as a result of physical damage, degradation, biological contamination while driving boost in profits.

Over the period last few years, the packaging sector in the region has been experiencing a great deal of transformation with the industry-changing focus towards personalized approaches with development of platforms such as IoMT, genomics, and other connected medical devices, localized production of customized medicines added with the increase in the number of SMEs entering the market, increasing demand for cannabis-based medicinal products and diversification of the innovators.

Also, the introduction of innovative techniques like Blow-Fill-Seal technology and the increasing need for anti-counterfeiting technologies are changing the market drastically. The increasing globalization has resulted in the setting up of manufacturing plants all across the world, thereby improving the raw materials used and lengthening the supply chains.

Additionally, with the recent European Union (EU) regulations mandating pharmaceutical serialization is added with the US Drug Supply Chain Security Act, compliance extended to 2023 is driving the serialization and track-and-trace efforts, thereby are promoting pharmaceutical traceability and authenticity in the region. Similarly, other EU regulation now requires dimensional codes on the medical packaging to help identify the product and verify their authenticity; leveraging smartphone technology drives the digitalization of the packaging industry.

According to a study conducted by the UN, the release of antibodies into the environment will accelerate the emergence of resistant strains and will impact antibiotic pollution, which continues to be the topic of global discussion in 2020. Owing to such instances, the manufacturers of pharmaceutical packaging are showcasing greater emphasis on sustainability by considering recyclable and biodegradable packaging materials, reduction in their carbon footprint, and lifecycle analyses.

However, Europe has been the second, just behind North America with more than a third of the global market, but with the emergence of China and other Asia-Pacific nations remains a threat, the increasing need for faster production and enhanced shelf appeal are driving the market ahead. Some concerns to this market are the stringent regulations to pharmaceutical packaging by the governments across Europe, environmental concerns regarding the use of plastics, and the rising costs of raw materials used.

Before the global pandemic COVID-19, the industry was driving growth concerning the growth of the e-commerce industry, increased interest in sustainable materials, and integration of smart technologies. Still, later the pandemic, there has been a surge in demand for healthcare packaging such as pumps, flexible blister foils, among others. Also, with the need for biologics and vaccines, the companies are now investing in the sterile format and are expanding their production capacity.