TurboFil Packaging Machines LLC, an equipment specialist dedicated solely to the design and development of liquid filling and assembly machines, has developed a lab-scale version of its popular vial filling and stoppering system. The company’s UDS/BDS Benchtop Vial Filler provides precise vial filling and stoppering for early-stage treatments, using the same safe, reliable technique as its higher-volume fillers. The result is streamlined lab settings and, for products moving toward wide-scale clinical trials and commercialization, seamless downstream process transition.
Ideal for investigational drugs and small batches, the UDS/BDS Benchtop Vial Filler combines ease of use with the exacting precision for which TurboFil’s larger-scale automatic filling systems have become known. Operators manually place each vial into a holding puck, then activate the servo-driven filling station. Product can be drawn from a variety of common containers, including beakers and reservoir bags. The filling process, which exceeds the accuracy requirements for such applications, is performed via ceramic pump, and a suck-back nozzle helps ensure drip-free operation.
Operators then slide the puck with the filled vial into the stoppering station for piston insertion. Here, the UDS/BDS Benchtop Vial Filler performs semi-automatic stopper placement from a manually loaded plastic tube. The two-stage, servo-driven process involves a feed tube and plunger mechanism that compress and seat stoppers to proper depths.
To bolster sterility, the unit’s product contact parts are composed of ceramic, stainless and Teflon. It is controlled via a touchscreen HMI with the ability to set fill volume, plunger depth and other parameters.
“With biotech companies and contract manufacturers increasingly stressing interstage integration, the ability to carry early-phase development processes into scale-up activities is becoming ever more critical,” said Deborah Smook, VP of Marketing & Business Development for TurboFil Packaging Machines LLC. “By embodying the same precision-minded vial filling and stoppering procedure as our higher-volume downstream systems, the UDS/BDS Benchtop marries simplicity with seamlessness for promising treatments on the path to large-scale production.”