Injection vials are a type of small container. Injection vials are often bottle shaped. Unlike ampoules, which are a type of vial sealed hermetically and snapped open, injection vials are capped with a penetrable seal through which a needle can be passed to draw the contents of injection vials into syringe chambers without exposure to the environment. Injection vials allow pharmaceutical suppliers to package drugs in a controlled atmosphere. Injection vials sealed under these conditions can then be distributed without risking contamination of the contents to an end user. It is at this stage the penetrable cap of injection vials becomes their principal asset, as the design of injection vials allows the user to extract the contained substance without risking contamination.

Although injection vials are normally made of glass, injection vials can be manufactured of any suitable material, and can be of a size or shape specified by the customer where necessary. The principal characteristic of injection vials is the penetrable seal. The seal on injection vials must be both properly applied to ensure that leaking from injection vials can be prevented, and also that they resist any evolution of substances contained in injection vials through the seal. Similarly, it is important that injection vials are able to protect the contained substance.

Injection vials have been immortalised in popular culture – the image of a character piercing injection vials and drawing their contents into a syringe has been widely used in film and television. The image is not inappropriate in impact, in that injection vials have had a very significant effect on the ease with which drugs can be safely distributed across the world, and so injection vials are worthy of widespread fame. Injection vials allow pharmaceutical injections to be administered without difficult-to-achieve sterile conditions, as swabbed arms, sterile syringes and injection vials are all that are needed (along with a steady hand!).

LSL