Advantages Of Using Silica Gel Sachets/packets/bags In Pharmaceutical Industry

By Author: Sorbead India
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In pharmaceutical formulations a drug is converted into a medicine for administration to a patient by a particular route. The objective is to produce a medicine, in a suitable package which must have bio availability acceptability, convenience for use and stability over prolonged storage. These drugs/medicines involve the addition of excipients like disintegrating agents, binding agents etc.

The stability of drugs depends on the various changes that may occur in the excipients due to various factors like moisture, oxygen, temperature, heat etc. which can alter the drug physically, chemically or biologically. Stability is expressed as shelf-life, the time period through which the drug has to retain its potency and be viable for use/consumption. Some of the result of drug instability could be loss of active drug, reduction in bio availability, production of toxic materials. One of the environmental factors that can cause instability is moisture. So as to protect the drugs from moisture Silica Gel sachets play a pivotal role. These sachets are designed in a way ...
... to absorb moisture in the packed environment and prevent the outer moisture to enter, thus increasing the shelf life of the drug.

Moisture causes hydrolysis of drugs. Hydrolysis is an important cause of degradation of drug. As in most pharmaceutical formulations the solvent is water and unfortunately many esters and amide drugs hydrolyze in water. Water can also act as a vehicle for interactions or facilitate microbial growth. So to prevent the hydrolysis of drugs we incorporate the use of silica gel packets. These sachets are very easy to handle occupy less space and bring down moisture level to 0%. These are food grade products, are non-toxic. These sachets can be used in bottles, containers, drums because of the varied sizes available. These sachets are very easy to use. Silica gel sachets are applied to a wide variety of Industries like pharmaceutical, electronics industries, agro industries, engineering industries, diagnostic industries and many more. Broad range of size is available in silica gel bags staring from 1grm to 100grms, depending on the applications. Also, silica gel bags are made up of two types of material one is composite paper and the other is non-wove material. The non-woven material cannot be torn easily and so has better properties than the composite paper. Industries manufacturing electric boards and circuits use silica gel packets to protect their devices. Seed manufacturers also use silica gel bags, the seeds germinate in the presence of water/moisture and to prevent this from happening silica gel bags are inserted along with the seeds. Silica gel sachets find a wide application in diagnostic companies too, where these are used in diagnostic kits like malarial kits, pregnancy kits etc.

Silica gel bags are ideal for general packaging applications, electrical/electronic enclosures and communications equipment.Silica gel desiccant is synthetically produced from sodium silicate and has an adsorption capacity of approximately 25% (by weight) at a relative humidity of 50% at 25°C.Silica gel bags are ideal for general packaging applications, electrical/electronic enclosures and communications equipment.