The Parenteral Drug Association (PDA) has honoured Dr Bettine Boltres, a scientist at German glassmaker Schott, for her commitment to sharing knowledge within the pharmaceutical industry.
The Distinguished Service Award is awarded to recognise experts who make outstanding contributions on transferring know-how related to parenterals – drugs that are injected directly into the bloodstream – wherein patient safety plays a particularly important role.
Boltres has been committed to this goal since 2011. She lectures and holds courses about her specialist field of pharmaceutical glass on a regular basis.
Exchanges between manufacturers and the pharmaceutical industry are particularly important in this area because glass is a packaging material that comes into direct contact with the liquid medication and is responsible for ensuring that it can be stored safely for years.
The latest findings and trends on the topic of pharmaceutical packaging are discussed at an annual PDA Parenteral Packaging Conference, which Boltres co-organises as a committee member.
She has also already acted as its chairwoman and as a presenter and moderator. She is also participating in task forces and interest groups.
Boltres recently published her knowledge of of glass and its use in the pharmaceutical industry in a book.
Entitled, When Glass meets Pharma, the book describes the properties of glass, why it can react with drugs and how it can be used most effectively in production.