Honeywell expands production capacity for Aclar pharmaceutical films
Honeywell announced today that it is expanding production capacity for its Aclar business to meet growing worldwide demand by the pharmaceutical industry. The expansion—part of Honeywell’s continuing investment in the Aclar business—will be completed this year in the form of upgrades and capacity expansions across Honeywell’s production sites, with additional investments to be made over the next few years.
Honeywell’s Aclar films are known for their high moisture barrier performance combined with high clarity and excellent thermoformability. They are used in a wide variety of pharmaceutical packaging applications to protect drug products from moisture-induced degradation during shipment and storage, even under severe climatic conditions. In pharmaceutical blister packaging applications, Aclar films enable pack size reductions of up to 55 percent compared with packs made from cold-form foil. This provides pharmaceutical companies with more design flexibility to meet user needs for patient-centric packs, as well as productivity gains over the full lifecycle of a drug.
“The global pharmaceutical industry is increasingly demanding higher performance packaging to protect the next generation of drugs that are being developed,” said Sanjay Sharma, vice president and general manager, Honeywell Packaging and Composites. “Aclar has been the trusted choice for the pharmaceutical industry for more than 40 years, and Honeywell is investing in more capacity and upgrades to ensure the product continues to meet this growing industry demand.”
Aclar films are based on polychlorotrifluoroethylene (PCTFE) fluoropolymer technology. They are crystal clear, biochemically inert, chemical-resistant, nonflammable, and plasticizer- and stabilizer-free. The films can facilitate increased patient compliance with doctor prescriptions with see-through, portable and patient-friendly pack presentations. Today, Aclar thermoformable films are used in a broad range of markets including originator and generic pharmaceutical, over-the-counter (OTC) pharmaceutical and animal health packaging.
