Corning Valor® Glass Vials

For vial containment and pre-filled syringe systems, it is essential to maintain drug sterility over shelf life. Ordinarily, such maintenance comprises prevention of ingress of oxygen, water, and microbes. To demonstrate this, it is essential to perform "container closure integrity testing” (CCIT), or leak testing.

The FDA has approved over twenty (20) cell and gene therapy drugs, and with the rapid growth of the cell and gene therapy market, there is greater demand than ever to demonstrate container-closure integrity (CCI) at ultra-low temperatures. To preserve the product’s efficacy, most cell and gene therapy drugs are stored at temperatures below -60ºC. Many of these products are packaged in either vial systems or cryogenic freezing bags. While each of these container-closure systems poses a unique challenge for the evaluation of CCI at ultra-low temperatures, the discussion in this blog focuses specifically on vial systems.

Biologics is a rapidly growing market, with a robust R&D pipeline bringing innovative therapies to treat patients. Today, there are 4,000 more active biologic programs in the pipeline compared to 2015, with biologics development programs growing 2.5 times faster than small molecules. New entrants into the biologics market are driving this rapid growth. As of 2018, emerging companies represented 84% of all early phase research.¹ Not only is this segment driving R&D growth, but they are having commercial success in bringing their drugs to market. In 2018, 65% of new drugs launched were patented by emerging companies.¹