ALUS® is not new but is something of an unsung hero in the world of
pharmaceutical processing. Since GEA Lyophil was one of the first companies to
manufacture the system some 25 years ago, ALUS® has made a huge contribution
allowing manufacturers to keep contamination out of the product and protect the
workforce from potentially harmful substances by removing, as far as possible,
the operator from the processing area.
Operator and product protection
Over the years GEA
Lyophil has made significant improvements both to the permanently installed and
flexible transfer cart systems. For example, in 1997 the company was the first
to start-up a complete system consisting of freeze dryer, ALUS® and isolators
recognizing the industry’s needs for contamination prevention and operator
protection.
Smooth load / unload with minimal operator
monitoring
GEA Lyophil continues the development today and the
system exhibited at ACHEMA 2009 will demonstrate the latest in
ALUS® technology. A stationary push/pull ALUS® system, which
loads and unloads pharmaceutical vials smoothly into and out from a freeze
dryer with the minimum of operator monitoring. This frame-less transport of
vials is suitable for integration into a RABS.
Using ALUS® vials remain covered by laminar air flow during the loading
process, and there are no moving parts above the open vials which would risk
contamination. ALUS also complies with ATEX guidelines for drugs needing
alcohol based solvents.
The benefits of using ALUS® are:
- 100% utilization of the charging area and of the plant capacity;
- Lyophilizers (freeze dryers) can be validated and meet GMP guidelines and
Class 100 sterility requirements;
- High quality construction for maximum availability;
- Greatly reduced risk of product contamination by reducing the clean room
personnel down to one operator;
- Cost reduction by using isolator and containment technology (reduction of
costly clean room area);
- Sterilization of the system with VHP (Vaporized Hydrogen Peroxide).
Today GEA Lyophil has the facilities to test freeze dryers with ALUS®
in-house for fast installation and configuration on-site; ALUS® can be used
with isolators or RABS, whichever is most appropriate, for applications
involving highly potent drugs and ALUS® can serve as retrofit option to give
existing freeze dryers a new lease of life, whether originally supplied by GEA
Lyophil or not.
Visit the GEA Pharma Systems stand at ACHEMA, hall 4, stand D13 –
G22.
Learn more at Achema
Also during the
week of the show experts from GPS will be presenting seminars and sharing their
knowledge on the key subjects that are vitally important to the needs of today’
s pharmaceutical solid dosage manufacturer: continuous processing, containment,
compression and freeze drying including ALUS® (Automatic Loading and Unloading
System) and FlexStream™. These are likely to be very popular so it’s essential
for visitors to pre-register by following the instructions on www.geapharmasystems.com/achema.
Editor’s note:
GEA Pharma Systems is dedicated to innovation and
thereby providing durable quality through its well-established brands:
Aeromatic-Fielder™ and Collette™ - batch and continuous granulation, drying,
pelletizing and coating; Buck® - contained materials handling; Courtoy™ -
tablet compression; and Lyophil™ - pharmaceutical freeze drying.
“You can count on us!”
All business enquiries to:
Hubert Kluetsch
Director Sales
& Marketing
GEA Lyophil GmbH
Tel: +49 (0) 2233/6999-220
Fax: +49 (0) 2233/6999-8220
Email: Hubert.Kluetsch@geagroup.com
For further editorial information contact:
Kris De Baere
Marketing
Manager
GEA Pharma Systems
Tel: +32 3 350 12 41
Email: kris.debaere@geagroup.com