News

Pharmaceutical cartons specialist Firstan is looking to add primary packaging to its product list after becoming the first company in the UK to gain a new international quality standard for primary pharmaceutical packs.

The Cambridge-based company has been awarded the new ISO 15378:2007 Primary Packaging Materials for Medicinal Products following a year-long project to meet the standard’s stringent quality control standards.

Sales director Jeff Oakley told Packaging News that the company would now be looking to sell both primary pharmaceutical packaging as well as the secondary packs it already specialises in.

"This sends out the message that our systems are robust in both areas of packaging," he said. "It’s a strong signal of what we are about as a business."

The accreditation follows a £1.5m investment in a Mitsubishi six-colour press, announced in November.

Oakley said that the accreditation and investment, which has increased capacity, made the firm a "strong choice" for buyers.

Firstan head of quality Chris Davies added that the ISO 15378 accreditation was likely to eventually replace the existing and better-known PS 9000:2001 Pharmaceutical Packaging Materials standard.

"This will effectively be the new PS 9000. We were in a position where we had PS 9000 but a lot of our quality control was beyond that already," he said.

Firstan also produces packaging, as well as offering design, finishing and logistics, for the food and confectionary markets. It was bought in an MBO by Oakley, managing director Andrew Hartwig and production director Paul Hartwig in 2000.