RYE BROOK, N.Y.–( As a pioneer for specialty glass for the pharma industry and beyond, SCHOTT is constantly working on improving its materials while making them more sustainable. With its borosilicate glass being the gold standard for storing lifesaving medications for more than a century, the company is now taking the next steps by introducing improved glass tubing to the global pharma market. FIOLAX® Pro is a new type I borosilicate glass, designed to meet three major trends in the industry: increasingly complex pharmaceuticals, sustainable products and circular economy, and digitalization.
“Creating next-generation materials to contain drugs is a journey and we are still at the beginning. The global launch of our improved borosilicate glass tubing is a first step. But there will be more that we want to take on together with our customers around the world,” says Dr. Patrick Markschläger, Executive Vice President of SCHOTT’s Tubing business.
SCHOTT’s pharmaceutical glass tubing is used by pharmaceutical converters to produce high-quality vials, ampoules, syringes, or cartridges to store both simple and even highly complex drugs. Especially in the latter category, the company sees rising demand for biotech pharmaceuticals in the future, which will need to meet stricter requirements and regulations for packaging and materials. Today, FIOLAX® Pro has superior chemical quality, such as an improved Extractables & Leachables (E&L) profile and hydrolytic resistance and is completely free of heavy metals. In China, SCHOTT has been piloting and successfully established the new glass tubing for the last two years together with its customers.
In addition, sustainability and digitalization play a crucial role in SCHOTT’s strategy. Hence, the company plans to produce the new FIOLAX® Pro with green energy and significantly reduce the Product Carbon Footprint (PCF). SCHOTT just recently received funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action to build the first climate-friendly glass melting tank. The pilot tank will be constructed at the company’s site in Bavaria, Germany, and produce the pharmaceutical glass largely without causing greenhouse gas emissions.
Furthermore, the company strives to become a digital accelerator in the specialty glass industry and is constantly enhancing its digital service portfolio. With the new online pharmaceutical type I glass tubing configurator, packaging converters are now able to configure products based on their individual requirements – and save valuable time and costs. “By combining our material expertise with an extensive service portfolio, we offer a comprehensive material solution,” Markschläger states. “This allows our customers to solely focus on their main business: manufacturing advanced pharma packaging solutions and shape the future of global healthcare.”
