ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Glass containers have a long history as packaging materials for foods, beverages and medicinal products. Among other properties, glass compositions suitable for use as pharmaceutical containers offer sufficient inertness to minimize product interactions, impermeability to prevent ingress of contaminants, dimensional stability at temperatures needed for sterilization or depyrogenation as well as for lyophilization or frozen storage and transparency to allow product inspection. Where needed, coloration for light protection is possible. From the business side, a wide range of glass container styles and sizes is readily available in large quantities at reasonable cost. Increasingly, many manufacturers also offer preinspection, sterilization, barrier coatings or other specialized services needed for specific applications.
