Introducing the Alba® Primary Packaging Platform. Part 2: Inorganic Extractables Evaluation

Sensitivity of drugs to one or more elements of the primary packaging is a serious concern for the pharmaceutical industry. Biologics in particular are highly sensitive, leading to a higher risk of incompatibility and stability test failure as worst-case scenario.This potential incompatibility-and the consequent formulation instability due to the interactions between the drug and the primary container surface-may have multiple causes: the intrinsic nature of the container surface, leachables coming from the materials used, substances coming from the production process, or silicone oil droplets or other particles.The Alba primary packaging platform was designed to have the same interface between the drug and the glass container surface on the different primary packaging containers in order to minimize the emergence of instabilities at later stages of formulation development. Alba containers are internally treated with an innovative cross-linked coating based on silicone oil lubricant, and the additional rubber components have been selected to minimize the possible differences between the container typologies.This paper shows in great detail the reduction of the inorganic extractables released and the comparability of the performances of the different containers obtained using Alba technology.The improvement has been demonstrated by stressing the containers with different extract solutions; Alba-coated containers show a strong reduction of inorganic extractables and of corrosion degree compared to spray-on siliconized and bulk products. The containers included in the Alba platform present comparable results, and this represents a strong advantage during the drug formulation development by facilitating the transition from one container to another.LAY ABSTRACT: The sensitivity of drugs to one or more elements of the primary packaging is a serious concern for the pharmaceutical industry. Biologics in particular are highly sensitive, leading to a higher risk of incompatibility and stability test failure worst-case scenario.This potential incompatibility-and the consequent formulation instability due to the interactions between the drug and the primary container surface-may have multiple causes: the intrinsic nature of the container surface, leachables coming from the materials used, substances coming from the production process, or silicone oil droplets or other particles.The Alba primary packaging platform was designed to minimize these problems associated with the interaction between the drug and its primary packaging. This paper shows in great detail and with robust data the inorganic extractables release reduction and the delamination risk mitigation obtained using the Alba technology.