INTERPHEX 2023 Honors Packaging Innovations

The INTERPHEX Exhibitor Awards recognized several parenteral packaging and handling advancements at INTERPHEX 2023, which took place between April 24–26, 2023 at the Javits Center in New York, NY (1). The Best in Show award went to IMA Life North America for its INJECTA aseptic fill/finish system, which has evolved to integrate its gloveless module. Robotic technologies help achieve gloveless processing and eliminate human intervention at crucial stages of the process, such as the aseptic assembly of sterile components loaded using rapid transfer ports. The system does not lose the sterility guaranteed by the autoclave, does not come into contact with the operator, and is assembled entirely in aseptic conditions following isolator decontamination. The extensive use of robotics drastically reduces the number of manual operations, eliminating the need for productivity-sapping integrity checks and simplifying compliance with Annex 1, which views gloves and manual operations as major sources of contamination (2).

The award for Best New Product/Service went to the BoMa Dosing System from DEC Group, which recently established a Filling Solution Technologies Division. Judges selected the patented BoMa precision filling technology for its ability to precisely dose highly sensitive pharmaceutical products without the stress and shear associated with pumps and other conventional filling methods. The system harnesses the physics principles of Boyle’s Law, or pressure and volume of a gas have an inverse relationship with constant temperature, and uses a vacuum to smoothly and precisely handle tiny amounts of product and a wide range of fluid densities and viscosities (3).

A robotic innovation, the bionically-inspired, energy-free ADHESO gripping technology from Schunk, captured the Editor’s Choice award. ADHESO end effectors grip without mechanical force, external energy supply, or residue generation enabling gentle product handling and compatibility with cleanroom requirements. Modeled on Van Der Waals adhesive forces used by animals, such as geckos, for locomotion, the grippers use gentle pressure to pick and one of four release options for placing: rotary movement, tilting movement, sliding movement, or pressing. Alternatively, it is also possible to equip the gripper with an active wiper, which prevents mechanical stress on the workpiece at the placing position. Four standardized ADHESO gripper pad sizes with matching ISO flange adapter serve a wide range of applications (4).

The Ready Pack system from West Pharmaceutical Services earned the Best Technologies award. The ready-to-use sterile packaging system provides all the components needed to fill/finish sterile products, including sterilized NovaPure stoppers, Flip-OffCCS (clean, certified, sterilized) seals, and Corning Valor ready-to-use vials utilizing Stevanato Group's EZ-fill tray or nest and tray formats. Available from stock in small order quantities, Ready Pack kits are particularly well-suited for R&D purposes or small filling operations and designed to support a smooth transition from early-stage pilot manufacture to larger commercial-scale operations and accelerate speed to market (5, 6).

West Pharmaceutical Services, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary, also took home honors for two poster sessions, a Third Place for Evolving Component Technologies to Meet the Needs of Large Volume Injections and a Fifth Place for Functional Assessment of Adeno-Associated Virus Stored in Daikyo Crystal Zenith Vials at Ultra-cold Temperatures(1).

INTERPHEX 2024 will return to the Javits Center on April 16–18, 2024 (1).

References

1 RX (Reed Exhibitions). Pharmaceutical Manufacturing and Biotech Industries Showcase Latest Innovations throughout INTERPHEX 2023. Press Release. May 4, 2023.

2 IMA Life. IMA Life Wins Top Prize at INTERPHEX New York 2023. IMA.com, accessed July 3, 2023.

3 Dec Group. DEC Group Wins INTERPHEX Award for BoMa Filling Solution. dec-group.net, accessed July 3, 2023.

4 Schunk. Adhesive Grippers ADHESO. schunk.com, accessed July 3, 2023.

5 West Pharmaceutical Services. West's Ready Pack™ Containment Solution with Corning® Valor® RTU Vials Utilizing Stevanato Group's EZ-fill® Technology Recognized for Best Technologies Award at INTERPHEX. Press Release. May 2, 2023.

6 West Pharmaceutical Services. West Ready Pack, Product Sheet. January 2023.