SCHOTT Launches New Center of Excellence for RTU Pharma Packaging
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Excellence in ready-to-use (RTU) pharmaceutical packaging is more certain than ever: SCHOTT has set up an RTU center of excellence at its Lebanon, Pa. production facility, bringing together SCHOTT’s experts and pharma partners at the very heart of manufacturing.
To launch the center of excellence, SCHOTT hosted the pharma industry for an all-day symposium on packaging trends and current production considerations, as well as a tour of its manufacturing site.
Partners in attendance included Bausch + Ströbel, GEA Lyophil, ARaymond Life, and West Pharmaceutical Services. The keynote address was delivered by a large US pharma company engaged in biotech drugs, emphasizing the need for closer partnerships between the pharma industry and its suppliers in order to uphold patient safety, reduce particle contamination in packaging, and secure the supply chain.
Experts at the SCHOTT event reported that specialty drugs are driving medical growth in developing countries, and the self-administered drug market is expected to double in the next five years. Further, particle-related drug recalls have increased more than 300 percent since 2012.
As a result, the pharmaceutical industry must guarantee the safety of packaging. Pharmaceutical manufacturers are relying more on RTU packaging as it promotes particle-free drug filling, and allows for filling different container formats on the same filling line, making even the processing of smaller batch sizes cost-effective.
SCHOTT’s Lebanon manufacturing plant will become a hub where experts from SCHOTT and its partners can develop solutions to exploit the full potential of sterile packaging concepts. Plus, the plant’s manufacturing capacity ensures the security of supply of RTU vials and other pharma packaging.
Production of adaptiQ® RTU vials has begun
SCHOTT, which manufactures approximately 10 billion packaging products each year, demonstrated its manufacturing capability and commitment to RTU solutions by highlighting its adaptiQ® system for RTU vials. adaptiQ® vials come sterile in a nest and tub configuration. The nest securely holds up to 100 sterile vials, which can be loaded onto production lines without the manufacturer having to perform pre-treatment steps such as washing, drying, or sterilization. The system also reduces scratches from vial-to-vial and vial-to-machine contact during the entire process, including lyophilization. Finally, adaptiQ® has been designed in line with industry standards so vials can be filled on production lines normally used for syringes, with only short change-over times.
Before touring the Lebanon plant, experts from SCHOTT and partners offered perspectives on current demand, the next generation of bio manufacturing, and the debate about filling and finishing processes. During the afternoon tour, SCHOTT demonstrated its RTU and container production, as well as its work with Bausch + Ströbel on a one-of-a-kind filling line.
“Packaging is a critical cog in pharmaceutical delivery, and recent regulatory papers highlight the importance of high-quality processing and manufacturing of packaging,” said Christopher Cassidy, Vice President Sales and Marketing of SCHOTT Pharmaceutical Systems in the U.S. “SCHOTT’s center of excellence in Lebanon is the manifestation of the relationship we have with our partners, and our collaborative efforts create safe, reliable, and easy-to-use packaging products.”
