Cell and gene therapies: a new challenge and opportunity that the packaging and pharma industries must prepare for

Steriline, the Italian manufacturer of robotic and standard solutions for the primary packaging of injectable products that supplies the pharmaceutical industry worldwide, will attend CPHI Barcelona from 24^th to 26^th October. Visitors will be welcome at stand 3T41, Pharma Machinery and Equipment area, to appreciate the displayed robotic solution developed to meet the need for flexibility in drug production processes and, at the same time, discuss the company’s standard solutions for high volumes.

At the trade fair, Steriline will display, in particular, a Robotic Vial Filling and Capping Machine (RVFCM2) under isolator. The solution integrates robotics and isolators with a zero-loss philosophy, an increasingly popular combination in the pharmaceutical industry due to the rising number of high-value therapies, such as Cell and Gene Therapies (CGTs), which are proving to be valid allies both against cancer and for patients with rare and ultra-rare diseases.

“High-value therapies must take into account a major challenge: commercial attractiveness,” states Federico Fumagalli, Commercial Director at Steriline. “These treatments, very often lifesaving, risk being unprofitable, because they are personalised and intended for a small number of patients. The industry is therefore very oriented towards adopting technologies that are super flexible and that reduce to a minimum the waste of the high-value final product.”

To this aim, Steriline has developed the zero-loss philosophy, which provides its solutions with the intelligence to detect filling and capping inaccuracies during the primary packaging and to re-process each single container, to minimise rejects of any kind.

At the heart of Steriline’s philosophy there are both isolators and robotics. The adoption of isolators guarantees a Grade A environment during the sensitive manipulation of the products, limiting the risk of contamination and reducing the area where an aseptic environment must be established as required by cGMPs. Robots, conceived to operate in a sterile environment and to handle various types of containers, provide autonomy and automatic adaptability to the different solutions required to fill the exact quantities, according to the customers’ defined recipes.

“Steriline’s philosophy and offer evolve faithfully with the arising market challenges. We want to be a reliable partner for our customers and satisfy their evolving production needs. CGTs represent a revolution in the field of medicine and hold the promise of guaranteeing more effective treatments for diseases that today do not have a cure. We are looking forward to helping the industry set a new milestone for the health of many people,” concludes Mr Fumagalli.