Exciting talks at Pharma Forum 2013

THE 2013 Pharma Forum once again showcased innovations and technological trends in pharmaceutical packaging processes. Operators themselves reported on how well the machines work in daily practice as well as what advantages and limits they encounter. Another area of focus was project management, an aspect which is essential to successful packaging lines.

Organisers Optima Pharma welcomed international visitors to the event held at company headquarters in Schw?bisch Hall from 25 to 26 September. Visitors were very positive about the opportunity to network at a high professional level.

Use of disposables and integration of peristaltic pumps
Disposables and peristaltic pumps have become the technology of choice in many projects, but they are often not the only option. Several talks were dedicated to this system, frequently also touching on another trend, the flexibilisation of pharmaceutical systems.
An American contract filler for example has transitioned up to 70% of their filling operations today to single-use technologies. Ryan Hawkins, vice president of Operrations for Cook Pharmica (left), spoke about the leverage of single-use systems.

The filling section is still located underneath an isolator (Class A). Vaccines, drugs with small molecules and biotech products are filled into vials using peristaltic pumps. There were two main reasons for the contract filler to switch over to the disposable system: The company wanted to strengthen its position in pharmaceutical products while increasing overall efficiency. Cost savings, in particular thanks to less workload, elimination of cleaning validation and shorter preparation times are major benefits. The company also observed that product loss with the peristaltic pumps was significantly less compared to a time-pressure system. At the same time, it became clear that preparing for and executing the changeover is as complex as installing a new system.

Three different filling systems in one line
In terms of flexibilisation of equipment, an attendee reported on a SCF? syringe line which uses no less than three different filling systems, one of which is a peristaltic pump. The owner of this line has teamed with Optima Pharma to investigate and document the advantages and disadvantages of the individual filling systems in this line for various drug types. The particle behaviour of disposables has also been examined, along with limits for batch sizes for example. Projects presented at the Pharma Forum which impleneted two different filling systems generally integrated peristaltic pumps, for example in a system for clinical studies. Another project featured redundant filling systems. They are installed on trolleys and can be simply docked to the line, making it easy to remove parts in contact with the product for cleaning and to replace them with already cleaned components. Because cleaning takes place in parallel with production processes, the line can return to production mode more quickly. The line has also been equipped with sterile and non-sterile processing paths. This high flexibility, reported on by multiple presenters at the Pharma Forum, can be attributed to the overall growth in product diversity at pharmaceutical companies.

Dual-chamber syringe and robot technology
The more individual the requirements, the more often (flexible) robot technology is used. It was apparent at the Pharma Forum that tNike Air Max 90 Candy Drip