Healthcare products, and in particular expensive and moisture- or oxygen-sensitive pharmaceuticals, "need barrier protection", points out the report by US-based BCC Research, "Plastics for Barrier Packaging" (PLS014E).

Perhaps the best example, it says, are pharmaceutical blister packs, the only application for both barrier PCTFE (polychlorotrifluoroethylene) and PVC in healthcare barrier packaging - although PVC is "really just a product protection barrier, with its primary purpose to keep dirt and human hands out, plus some moisture barrier".

Thermoplastic polyesters, especially PEGT (polyethylene glycol terephthalate) - which "thermoforms better than standard PET [Polyethylene terephthalate]", the report notes - are increasingly used to package medical devices in rigid blister packs.

BBC Research also expects to see new barrier resins, such as cycloolefin copolymers (COCs), used in moisture-resistant pharmaceutical blister packaging, although "probably not in sufficient volumes to create a measurable market during our forecast period".

Most PET and other polyester usage in healthcare packaging is non-barrier in nature, such as bottles, vials, tubing and non-barrier blister packaging, BCC Research observes. All the same, more sophisticated barrier plastic structures are being produced for relatively simple healthcare products, such as infant formula.

For example, Abbott Laboratories packages its Similac formula in aseptically filled shelf-table plastic bottles with a HDPE (high-density polyethylene)/tie/EVOH (ethylene vinyl alcohol)/tie/HDPE barrier structure that provides nine months of refrigerated shelf life.

While BCC Research classifies infant formula as a healthcare product, given that the major manufacturers are pharmaceutical companies such as Abbott and Mead Johnson (i.e., Bristol-Myers Squibb), food and beverage packing actually accounts for more than 95 per cent of the overall US market for barrier plastic packaging.

Other smaller but important markets include healthcare product packaging and chemical/industrial product packaging. As BCC Research notes, in value terms the US market for barrier plastic packaging in healthcare is larger than the chemical/industrial products segment, even though the volume of products packaged is far smaller. More expensive barrier resins "are often used for these more demanding applications", the report comments.

In volume terms (by weight), the total US market for barrier resins in packaging reached 7,263 million pounds in 2007 and is expected to hit 9,619 million pounds by 2012, delivering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.8 per cent.

The market for permeable films came to 605 million pounds last year, with a forecast for CAGR of 6.1 per cent to 815 million pounds in 2012. Tie layer resins generated 181 million pounds in 2007 and are expected to show CAGR of 4.7 per cent to 228 million pounds in 2012.

Among the current trends in the wider marketplace, BCC Research reports, is a continuing shift towards more complex and sophisticated multi-layer barrier structures, using more but often thinner layers of plastic.

Further information about the report can be found on BCC Research's website at www.bccresearch.com .