The medical and pharmaceutical industry is growing. It’s one of those segments that will always be here and most likely continue to grow due to more disease, better prevention medications and an aging population. According to PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, the market for pharmaceuticals and medical devices does, in fact, continue to grow. In total, the 2015 pharmaceutical industry produced $1.1 trillion in global sales with medical devices reaching $350 billion. An aging population, longer life expectancy and a general increase in rare or chronic diseases is impacting healthcare worldwide. Global medicine use is expected to reach 4.5 trillion doses by 2020, up 24% from 2015, emphasizing the opportunity in this market segment.
That’s all fine and dandy, but the key to a product’s success lies in the packaging. The medicine or device may be a home-run product, but if consumers aren’t using the product correctly, it has little chance of success. And if the consumers cannot even open the package to get to the product inside, it has zero chance.