Pharma & healthcare packaging

Packaging requirements for healthcare and pharmaceutical products are rapidly changing, driven by evolving regulations, carbon footprint reduction, and increasingly sophisticated technical specifications.

That’s why choosing the ideal packaging for a product is more important than ever.

Lightweight, fresh fibre folding boxboards can help customers meet these demands and stay ahead in a competitive market. Metsä Board’s packaging solutions efficiently protect a product’s integrity, keep converting and packing lines running smoothly, and deliver the premium quality, safety, and consistency customers can rely on.

Metsä Board’s folding boxboards are ideal for pharmaceutical and healthcare applications:

Prescription medicines
Over-the-counter medicines
Nutraceuticals
Food supplements
Herbal medicines and natural health products
Hygiene and bodycare products

Why choose Metsä Board for pharmaceutical and healthcare packaging?

1. Proven and measurable climate performance

Third-party-verified case studies show that Metsä Board’s folding boxboards can reduce the climate impact of a customer’s packaging by up to 60% compared with conventional boards. Metsä Board’s production runs on 89% fossil-free energy, and the company’s climate performance is recognised by independent third parties, including EcoVadis Platinum and CDP Triple A.

Third-party-verified study for healthcare packaging

The healthcare packaging study compared the LCAs of three different pharmaceutical packaging options.

Explore the study

2. Traceability from forests to mills

Metsä Board only uses fresh wood fibre pulp, sourced from northern forests with an ownership base of approximately 90,000 private forest owners. The supply chain is fully certified and traceable, and all Metsä Board products originate from certified forests or from sources that meet controlled origin requirements*. Availability from four different Metsä Group mills in Finland and Sweden also ensures a strong supply security for all customers worldwide.

*Metsä Board’s PEFC Controlled Sources licence code is PEFC/02-31-92, and its FSC® Controlled Wood licence code is FSC®-C001580.

3. Reliable printing and converting performance you can trust

Metsä Board’s lightweight folding boxboards combine high stiffness at lower grammages with a smooth, defect-free surface for reliable printing and converting. This supports features such as braille and anti-counterfeiting solutions, often crucial for prescription packaging. For over-the-counter (OTC) packaging, the boxboard’s high brightness and excellent printability offer strong branding opportunities, along with premium finishes such as embossing and hot-foil stamping.

4. Audit-ready documentation for stricter regulations

As packaging requirements tighten with new regulations such as PPWR, EPR, and EUDR, Metsä Board helps customers stay compliant with clear documentation and support. All the company’s sites are certified under ISO standards, and Metsä Board provides product-specific paper profiles, life cycle assessments (LCAs), and management system certificates to support internal reviews and audits.

5. Metsä Board 360 Services experts are ready to help

Leading industry experts can help you choose the right materials and design solutions to improve packaging performance, recyclability, and reduce climate impact. Services include support across the entire packaging value chain with sustainability and product safety training, LCAs, technical assistance, R&D collaboration, and packaging design support.