Mettler-Toledo Hi-Speed Ensures Precision Accuracy For AstraZeneca
Ithaca, NY - Mettler-Toledo Hi-Speed, the worldwide leader of in-line checkweighers, installed two customized Starweigh™ checkweighers to ensure the accuracy of daily dose bottles for clinical trials. Clinical drug trials provide a precisely-calibrated daily dose to participants – too little, and the trial data is useless, too much, and the patient is in danger.
The Investigational Products group, part of Pharmaceutical and Analytical R&D function located at the AstraZeneca plant in Newark, DE, has a bottle-filling line that is utilized for the packaging of clinical trials. Prior to installing the Mettler-Toledo Hi-Speed checkweighers, bottle count verification was performed by 100 percent visual inspection and by manually checkweighing in-process samples. This process required a high amount of resource and at times affected the efficiency of the bottle-filling operation.
"Accuracy is critical in this application," Senior Delivery Technologist David Flynn said. "We need to maintain good compliance with the clinical trial, so instead of having 50 or 100 tablets per bottle (as on a normal pharmaceutical filling line), we had just three or four – a patient's one-day dose. The patient opens the bottle and swallows everything inside. One more tablet or one less tablet makes a big difference in this application." Patient safety and compliance are a major concern with these fills.
In order to obtain the required accuracy, two Hi-Speed Starweigh™ checkweighers were installed to weigh each bottle twice and precisely. The first checkweigher weighs the empty bottle to establish the tare weight of the bottle prior to filling. The second weigh is performed after filling to establish the gross weight of the bottle. The two checkweighers communicate with each other to eliminate any bottle weight variability in the final weight. This allows precise measurement of the materials packaged inside the bottle. The filling line is capable of speeds of 45 to 50 bottles per minutes and the margin of error is less than a quarter of a gram per bottle.
Due to space restrictions, the checkweighers were also customized to make less than a full turn, fit into the two-foot-square opening in the line. They were set over the existing conveyor belt so that no holes needed to be cut in the line.
"Mettler-Toledo Hi-Speed adapted their checkweigher to our particular application and it took considerable engineering to make it work." Flynn said. "They also provided a machine that didn't require change parts when we changed bottle size. There is no need to change parts between production runs of different size bottles, this equates to less downtime, improved efficiencies and less frustration for the operator."
About Mettler-Toledo Hi-Speed
Mettler-Toledo Hi-Speed is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mettler-Toledo Inc., a global supplier of precision instruments with sales and service locations in 37 countries. The Mettler-Toledo Product Inspection Division, including the companies Safeline and Hi-Speed, is the world's leading supplier of in-line checkweighers, metal detectors, and x-ray inspection systems. Industries including food, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical chemical and personal care use our solutions to continuously improve the quality of their products and improve the efficiency of their manufacturing and packaging processes.
SOURCE: Mettler-Toledo Hi-Speed