Plastic versus glass in the lab

Conventional wisdom was that glass and steel containers were the only viable options for pharmaceutical labs. Lorie Croston Product Manager, Labware and Specialty Plastics, at Thermo Fisher Scientific argues, this dynamic has changed and plastics have become a material of choice for drug development.

Scientists have ever-increasing demands for high-quality, versatile and durable containers that will advance their research from the beginning of the drug discovery process through formulation, processing and packaging. New types of non-cytotoxic resins that are now being used in plastic labware do not interact with biological life forms and have extractable and leachable profiles designed for lab use. In many instances, these new state-of-the-art resins are a preferred choice compared with glass.

Many lab personnel do not realise that glass has a high extractable profile, due to its core component, sand, which can vary greatly from one container to the next. The composition of glass can change significantly based on its country of origin; usually China, India or the US. This was particularly true of glassware manufactured after the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, which significantly impacted local sand composition and caused a higher level of extractables in the glassware produced in this region. Depending upon its manufacturing source, glass lab products can leach ionic compounds, which can affect the consistency of highly valuable pharmaceutical samples.

In the past, glass and steel containers were the only viable options for scientists throughout the production process, limiting workflow at critical stages because of breakage, loss of valuable sample, cost of repairs or the need to replace the container. Advancing protocols require that labs choose non-cytotoxic and sterile containers that are also resilient, leak-proof and have validated consistency of manufacturing materials.