Lugaia STS Stericon system cuts out need for RTP port

The Stericon transfer system for sterile APIs and materials uses laminated and pre-sterilisable film products that are manufactured in an ISO class 5 clean room. It comprises a bag filled with sterile pharmaceuticals, containers or closing materials, which are fed in or out of the isolator, with an endless film tube as the transfer connection. For transfer, the bag and the tube are interleaved in several layers. A specific welding and separating procedure bonds the bags to the tube, ensuring that the material inside the bags never has contact with the exterior film layers. This makes an RTP port redundant. The Stericon bags can be pre-sterilised by gamma rays, ETO (ethylene-oxide) or steam in the autoclave. The endless tube has been designed for transferring 500 containers. The procedure also supports discharge of the sterile products from the isolator. In the future, the Stericon system will be integrated into the Optima Group Pharma filling and packaging machinery at Optima’s own facilities and will be marketed by both Optima and Lugaia STS. www.lugaia.ch