Ensuring Everything is A-OK At AKBA

Asahi Kasei Bioprocess America, Inc., or AKBA, has grown into one of the largest pharmaceutical and bioprocessing companies in North America. With IBD and virus filtration making up a significant portion of AKBA’s business, it is critical that the equipment and systems they develop for those applications meet the strict operational needs and characteristics of the manufacturing systems used by their clients. Failing to do so will result in an unacceptable outcome for the users of the products, mainly negative effects on their safety, which will also harm AKBA’s reputation within the market.

In both IBF and virus filtration processes pumps play a leading role in ensuring that the final product is manufactured properly. For decades, the pump technology of choice for these applications was the triple-head metering pump. Over time, though, the operation of these pumps was proving to be unable to reliably meet the demanding needs of IBF and virus filtration applications.

For AKBA one key to its success has been the incorporation of Quattroflow™ Quaternary (Four-Piston) Diaphragm Pumps into its critical Inline Buffer Formulation (IBF) and Virus Filtration systems. Quattroflow pumps excel in these applications because the wide range of sizes can produce the large volumes needed by AKBA, but through a gentle, non-pulsing and shear-sensitive method of operation that protects product integrity. Another benefit for AKBA is the ability of Quattroflow pumps to be used in the increasingly popular single-use production systems.