Finding a laboratory-scale blister-packing machine that could handle trial batch sizes efficiently, cost-effectively and from a small footprint is no easy job, as Astron Research discovered
However, after identifying Dott Bonapace's In-Pack semi-automatic blister packing machine supplied by Isopak, the leading contract research organisation pressed ahead with its crucial plan to facilitate test-packing operations.
Astron's aim was to provide prompt, reliable, accurate and cost-effective research and development of formulations for pharmaceutical producers.
And test packaging of the products is critical to the entire process.
The product development and testing operation in the company's UK site at North Harrow, Middlesex, is typical of many pharmaceutical laboratories which do not have space for full-sized industrial machines and, in Astron's case, the company needed something that was just one tenth the size of a typical blister packer.
As Astron's regional director at North Harrow, Anupam Kaushal said: "We have to replicate and simulate the conditions to which our products under development will be exposed once packed and in transit or storage.
"We need to know if the product will be stable over a shelf life of up to five years, which is a critical part of the new product development cycle".
He said that his enquiries showed that competitors' machines were between two and a half to three times more expensive and only half as versatile and flexible as the In-Pack from Dott Bonapace, for whom Isopak is the exclusive UK and Ireland agent.
The In-Pack was reasonably priced and its size, coupled with its ease of use, with no special operator training required, was a very great benefit.
The machine was needed to pack tablets and capsules for Astron, and some of the moisture sensitive products need special laminates making use of the cold forming process.
That dictated the necessity to have both a thermoforming and a cold-formed blister pack option in one single machine, which narrowed the number of available suppliers still further.
The In-Pack is fed with pre-cut PVC or aluminium foils and is movable on its trolley so when not in use, storage is easy.
Its low purchase price means that Astron's payback, when it is only dealing in packaging runs of between 500-1000 tablets or capsules and when raw materials cost as much as $8000 to $10000 per kilo, is easily achievable, said Kaushal.
He added: "Ergonomically, the machine is very well designed and at the right height and has no start-up waste with fast and easy replacement of parts.
"It is a real boon to us all in the lab.
"Isopak's support and knowledge of the pharmaceutical sector is first class and the company's Robin Davies is a real stalwart of the industry".
The product development and testing activities have recently started in the UK, and are a part of the Indian Astron research organisation formed six years ago, which has been growing at about 30 per cent each year.
