Arif Sabah et al / Int. J. Pharma. and Neutra. Res. Vol-1(1) 2014 [1-12] www.ijpnr.com ~ 1~ IJPNR |Vol. 1 | Issue 1 | April - 2014 Journal Home page: www.ijpnr.com Review article Open Access Review Features, Functions and Selection of Pharmaceutical Packaging materials Arif Sabah 1,* , Iqbal Ahmed 2 , Adeel Arsalan 2 , Aysha Arif 3 , Sidra Tanwir 1 , Atta Abbas 1 , Farrukh Rafiq Ahmed 1 1 Faculty of Pharmacy, Ziauddin University, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. 2 Baqai Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Baqai Medical University, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. 3 Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Karachi, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. .* Corresponding author: Arif Sabah. E-mail id: drarif_bips1@yahoo.com. ABSTRACT Packaging is an important component in the development of various drug formulations in pharmaceutical industry. Packaging of pharmaceutical dosage forms has a close relationship between a pharmaceutical preparation and its package which is a major concern to the drug stability and safety. The selection of Packaging material is made on the basis of its efficacy and performance characteristics in preserving the quality, potency and safety of the pharmaceutical products. The stability testing of pharmaceutical products and compatibility testing of packaging materials is an integral part of R&D in pharmaceutical industry. The stability of a drug in solid and liquid dosage forms depends on the efficacy of the packaging materials to protect the drug from chemical degradation and changes in physical characteristics such as appearance, hardness, friability, dissolution, disintegration, weight variation, moisture contents and mechanical durability. This is particularly necessary for the storage of the products under accelerated conditions. It has been observed that the use of substandard packaging materials by some pharmaceutical industries leads to stability problems, packaging materials - drug interaction, poor efficacy to moisture barrier and formation of hazardous materials. In order to study the effect of environmental factors on the packaging efficacy of solid and liquid dosage form preparations, it is intended to study the stability of a number of selected pharmaceutical products in packaging materials using glass, aluminum foil, plastic, paper and other materials as primary or secondary packaging material and to determine the extent to which these materials are effective in providing protection to the product and in maintaining its desirable physical and chemical characteristics under the proposed storage conditions. It is intended to evaluate the shelf lives of the products stored in different packaging materials and examine their efficacy and performance characteristics in maintaining the product integrity for a prolonged period of storage. Keywords: Pharmaceutical; Packaging materials; Dosage form. International Journal of Pharmaceuticals and Neutraceuticals Research