RFID-Based Unit-Level Traceability: Could It Be The Key To Operational Excellence For Fill-Finish Lines?

Based on an article that orginally appeared in ONdrugDelivery. Copyright © 2023 Frederick Furness Publishing Ltd. Reproduced with permission.

Fill-finish operations are the final, critical phase before distribution of a pharmaceutical product. However, the risk of product mix-up during these operations is evolving as the industry adopts a platform approach to drug products and more products and dosages are filled in the same type of container on the same fill-finish lines. The current color-coding systems used to prevent rug product mix-ups are reaching their functional limits, demanding that pharma manufacturers adapt their approach to risk mitigation

Radio frequency identification (RFID)-based unit-level tracking solutions for prefilled syringes are poised to help pharma manufacturers address key risks and costly bottlenecks related to the fill-finish process. Tracking each product individually from the time of filling to its packaging can address risk mitigation, regulatory alignment, and yield optimization through one solution as these challenges are interconnected in fill-finish operations. RFID-tagged syringes, tagged nests, and cloud-based sharing of aggregation data are enabling new pathways for risk mitigation and can help pharma manufacturers bring new performance to their fill-finish operations.