​Vision Systems Design
John Lewis

For drug formulation, development, manufacturing and shelf stability, the type, size and quantity of particulate matter present in injectable drugs affects the drug’s efficacy. In some cases, such non-soluble particles may also present a potential safety risk. Understanding the nature of these particles is critical to ensuring the drug products work as intended and do so without causing adverse events.

“Until recently, even the most advanced technology available had trouble detecting and counting particles smaller than 10 microns,” says Kent Peterson, CEO, Fluid Imaging Technologies (Scarborough, ME, USA; www.fluidimaging.com). “Lacking the technological ability to do so, it becomes easier to understand why many pharmaceutical scientists drew the line of concern at 10 microns and larger.” (Full Article)

Learn how UnitedPros can help you with advanced vision and imaging systems for Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals.

Drug Topics
Fred Gebhart

Pharmacy has a problem: One of the traditional core tasks for most pharmacists is getting medications to patients. Getting the right medication to the right patient at the right time carries the potential for direct interventions that improve patient outcomes. But the mechanics of medication dispensing are mind numbingly tedious, repetitive, and nearly impossible to perform without error. 

Pharmacy also has a solution: Automation. Dispensing robots never get bored, never get distracted, and make far fewer mistakes than their human counterparts. And in this era of ever-shrinking prescription margins, dispensing robots free up pharmacists and technicians for more profitable clinical services that require human judgment. 

In 2016, Tom Gierwatoski, RPh, installed a ScriptPro dispensing robot in his Platte Valley Pharmacy in Brighton, CO. Automation allowed him to boost prescription volume by 50%, freeing up time to expand compounding and grow nonprescription services such as durable medical equipment and diabetic shoe fitting while halving his dispensing staff.  (Full Article)

Automation World
Pat Reynolds

During a well-attended Open Factory April 10-12 at its Pianoro headquarters plant outside Bologna Italy, pharmaceutical packaging machinery specialist Marchesini Group (www.marchesini.com) officially unveiled its Industry 4.0 program.

Industry 4.0, of course, is the fourth industrial revolution, a transformation now underway where sensors, machines, and IT systems will be tightly integrated all along the value chain. These connected systems can interact with one another thanks to standardized Internet-based communications protocols. And by interacting with one another, they can analyze data to predict failure, reconfigure themselves, and adapt to changes. Industry 4.0, sometimes called the Internet of Things (IoT), will make it possible to gather and analyze data across machines, resulting in faster, more flexible, and more efficient manufacturing processes to produce higher-quality goods at a reduced cost. (Full Article)