As was the case with Charles Ross's Packaging of Pharmaceuticals published by the UK Institute of Packaging in 1975 it is assumed that the reader of this book already has a broad understanding of the basics of packaging. If not the Packaging Users Handbook and the Handbook of Food Packaging are recommended. The packaging needs of pharmaceuticals are different in degree only from those of other perishable products such as processed foods. Because the required action of a medication can be nullified by any deterioration in its active principles the protection required from its packaging is at least an order of magnitude greater than that needed by foods for example. Functional efficiency is therefore of prime importance. Conversely the need for the packaging to 'sell' the medication is much less, hence the graphics required need only provide the right 'image' for the product when presented for use in hospital or surgery. Even when on sale at the pharmacy the 'appeal' required is that of providing hygiene and confidence more than anything else. Thus, the textual requirements are paramount including traceability (batch numbers, date-coding etc) in case of recall; while striking appearance to attract customer attention is in lower key. And with the increase in malicious tampering nowadays recall is more frequent.
