The Medical Packaging Films Market is expected to grow from USD 8.544 billion in 2025 to USD 11.763 billion in 2030, at a CAGR of 6.60%.
As with most other packaged goods, pharmaceuticals need reliable and speedy packaging solutions that deliver a combination of product protection, quality, tamper-evident patient comfort, and security needs. The increasing availability of biotechnology-based injectable drugs is fueling the demand for medical packaging films. Since these drugs are heat sensitive, they are unable to withstand the high heat of terminal stabilization processes. Growing healthcare and the pharmaceutical sectors are the major driving factors that are boosting the medical packaging film market growth.
Increasing investment in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors leads to the growing adoption of medical packaging films in the healthcare sector during the forecast period.
The government in many countries is investing in the development of a technologically advanced healthcare system, which is expected to drive the growth of the market in the coming years. For instance, in South Korea, more than half of the total healthcare spending is covered by the national government and state governments, thus improving the affordability of various healthcare services among individuals. National Healthcare Insurance (NHI) covers nearly half of the entire healthcare spending in this country. The National Health Insurance Program (NHIP), which covers nearly all non-elective procedures, covers around 96% of the overall population in South Korea. Also according to data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the Australian Government, the country spent around $181 billion on healthcare, which was around 6% higher than the previous year. What makes it even more impressive is that more than two-thirds of the overall healthcare spending is funded by the Australian government, along with the governments of states and territories. The Medicare Benefits Scheme (MBS) and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) launched by the federal government subsidize primary care providers besides providing funds to states to ensure the affordability of various healthcare services among citizens. Both publicly financed health insurance and private health insurance have been further improving the affordability of various healthcare services for people. Such policies attract private players’ investment in the medical equipment and packaging industry, thus propelling the growth of the market over the next five years.
Polypropylene as a film material is fast gaining traction in the pharmaceutical packaging industry. It is steadily replacing PVC owing to its eco-friendly nature and good moisture-barrier properties. In developed regions such as Europe, PP is used as a replacement for PVC on account of legislation related to the incineration of PVC. In the pharmaceutical industry, PP blister packs are extensively used as they provide good barrier protection from moisture. Continued investments and launches in polypropylene have supported the growth of its demand in blister packaging. For instance, leading Russian company SIBUR has introduced new packaging applications with polypropylene incorporating Millad NX 8000 that are suitable for blister packaging used in the pharmaceutical industry.
By geography, the medical packaging film market is segmented into North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The medical packaging film market in the Asia Pacific is estimated to hold a significant share in 2019 and is anticipated to grow exponentially on account of rising health awareness coupled with increasing investment by both public and private players in the region. Simultaneously, the region is the home of the world’s largest pharmaceutical packaging companies, and with the availability of raw materials and low cost of production, the market is anticipated to witness substantial growth in the Asia Pacific region. The North American and European regions is also expected to provide good growth opportunities on account of the rising shift of medicine packaging from bottles to films, and growing regulations related to single-dose packaging are poised to augment the market growth in the region.
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