Pharmapack 2025 Track Sponsor Interview: Terumo on the importance of packaging innovation

At Pharmapack 2025 in Paris in January, the conference theatre will once again be hosting insightful discussions across several key topics in the pharmaceutical packaging field. One track, Device and Packaging Innovation will be sponsored by Terumo.

Thomas Isaac graduated from the FH Aachen University of Applied Sciences as Engineer in Chemical Processing. He started his professional career at Terumo in November 1997 and held various positions relating to Terumo’s Medical Products. He also participated in several product developments and launches. During his assignments he managed a significant number of portfolio changes. In January 2019, he joined the Pharmaceutical Solutions team as Product Manager for Injection devices.

What are you looking forward to from this track at Pharmapack 2025? 

To showcase Terumo’s product solutions helping to enable the medical success of our pharma partner’s drug developments – by vivid discussions and an open exchange of ideas. It should be a thrilling track for all attendees. 

In what ways are the industry considering treatment compliance, patient adherence, and user experience when developing packaging and devices? 

As all those elements belong together and depend on each other let me reply with the sequence I see: patient adherence to a medical scheme is essential for treatment compliance and successful outcomes, and patients tend to stay with a proposed medication when they feel that their caregivers are confident with what they do – therefore enabling the HCP to administer parenteral drugs in a comfortable way is the foundation – and our desire to design medical devices that give the best possible experience and outcome for the patient is creating that foundation. 

What are the current challenges around manufacturing and regulation that are posing the biggest hurdles for the industry at the minute? 

One challenge is certainly the ever-changing landscape of regulatory requirements – while major obstacles like MDR introduction have been passed, new requirements come up from other areas of the globe – I call it the emancipation of jurisdictions – which for a global product distribution – and I am speaking, no – looking – here to both parties, our pharma partners and us – remains a continuous point of attention, requiring a lot of work still to be done. 

How is sustainability being incorporated into each aspect of developing packaging and devices? 

Terumo is continuously assessing all options to reduce its ecological footprint –all whilst respecting the requirements of GMP and individual customers. The set of options within medical device manufacturing is certainly different to other industries and requires a thorough screening process and a high degree of creativity to navigate certain challenges and obstacles.

The other two metrics – social and governance – have received high attention, especially within human resources to enable progress and take care for associates and maintain business integrity.

To see the full agenda for the Packaging and Device Innovation Track at Pharmapack in January click here.