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Isolator/filling machine combo

On display at Pharmintech 2019 in Bologna, Italy, was an impressive combination of one isolator plus various filling machine modules that can be wheeled into it to deliver a great deal of flexibility to biotech and pharmaceutical companies engaged in aseptic filling.

Filling modules can be rolled in and out of the SKAN isolator.
Filling modules can be rolled in and out of the SKAN isolator.

The VarioSys® production system is essentially a combination of two elements: an isolator made by SKAN and machine modules made by Bausch+Ströbel or Harro Höfliger. The system optimizes flexibility in the production of medications because multiple filling modules can be wheeled in and out of the SKAN isolator. The machine modules are simply rolled into place on the "lock-and-key" principle and plugged in.

“Before this kind of system was available a pharmaceutical manufacturer was required to dedicate one isolator and one filler to each container style, from syringe to vial to ampule to cartridge to I.V.bag,” says Bausch & Stroebel Sales Group Leader Frank Haerterich. With VarioSys® that’s no longer necessary. The same Skan isolator accommodates multiple filling machine modules. And pharmaceutical production can be extended even further by adding a suitable freeze-dryer made by GEA.

Haerterich says the concept was developed partly to meet the needs of the growing number of startups who don’t want a dedicated isolator/filling system for each container style they run. CMOs (Contract Manufacturing Organizations) like the flexibility, too.

VarioSys® is suitable for a wide range of applications and makes possible the manufacturing of clinical samples as well as the production of commercial volumes in one installation. All FDA requirements for pharmaceutical production are met.

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