CME Automation Systems has provided technology for a new modular automation system for clinical trials drug delivery and packaging.
The trial is designed to give pharmaceutical and life sciences a valuable insight into a future where new products can be delivered faster, more flexibly and cheaper than before.
The disruptive, patented technology is manufactured by CME and is known as PACE – Pharmaceutical Automation for Clinical Excellence.
PACE fulfils the need defined in the CPI’s Grand Challenge 2 for ‘Delivering Automated Just-In-Time Clinical Supply.’
The system fills pill bottles with different types of drugs, in tablet, capsule or vial format, without the risk of cross contamination, whilst maintaining complete traceability throughout the system.
With a modular design that allows multiple self-contained chambers to be incorporated, it significantly reduces the time taken to bring new medicines to market.
A key innovation is the patented design of the filling station, which enables a single line to incorporate a series of subsequent humidity and temperature-controlled drug filling stations, each configured as a fully functioning independent unit.
They are designed to allow quick changeover of pharma product types, in order dispense tablets or capsules of differing drug types and strengths.
Crucially, while of course the whole packing line still needs to be in a cleanroom environment, only one cleanroom is now required to pack multiple drug types and formats.
Paul Knight, chief executive of CME Automated Systems, said: “Clinical trials need to be carefully controlled at every stage, and that inevitably makes them expensive and time-consuming to run. One of the biggest issues facing pharmaceutical manufacturers is how to maintain a cleanroom environment during packing – and that’s what our patented PACE technology does.
“This unlocks true JIT capabilities – multiple small runs can be delivered quickly under cleanroom conditions.”
