Frank Sequino – Sales Manager, USA
Case: The highest percentage of the Sterimixer installed base is in the biopharma industry, but, biopharma is just a segment of the global pharmaceutical industry. There are numerous applications in traditional pharmaceutical processes that can benefit from the advantages that magnetic coupled mixers offer.
Requirement
A contract manufacturer had been making a wide variety of cough syrups using top entry mixers. Business was steadily increasing, and four new tanks were being added but, instead of doing things the same old way, they were looking for a way to make their process more hygienic. One of the steps that was identified as a candidate for upgrading was the mixing process.
How That Led To A Bottom-mount Mag Mixer
The primary benefit of the Sterimixer is containment and isolation – everything inside stays in and everything out-side stays out. Another important benefit is the ability to do mixing to the last drop – mix small batches or pre-mixes in large tanks. Sterimixers have traditionally been associated with waterlike mixing applications but, cough syrups are clearly not waterlike. Depending on the recipe, they may be several hundred centipoises before adding in an appropriate safety factor. How much of a safety factor is appropriate?
Finding The Right Mixer
Contract manufacturers need flexibility. They may be making a 200 centipoise cough syrup today, and they may get a contract for a 500 centipoise cough syrup tomorrow. The specific gravity will also vary with the recipe. Steri-dose’s engineers used the data provided by the customer to arrive at a mixer selection that provides the customer with a reasonable amount of mixing in reserve, should they ever need it. The Steridose Selection Tool & Information Resource (STIR) sizing program is available here for every-one to use: https://www.steridose.com/steridose-stir/. More information on the Sterimixer can be found here: https://www.steridose.com/products/sterimixer/.
Takeaway
Traditional pharmaceutical customers have some of the same concerns about product integrity that biopharma customers have. Steridose has the products to address these concerns during the mixing steps.
About us
Steridose is a global brand manufactured at the IDEX Material Processing Technologies plant in Canada. We are highly specialized in the design, development and manufacturing of magnetic coupled mixers and radial diaphragm valves.
Steridose is part of IDEX Corporation, with regional offices in key locations around the world. Steridose is represented in important certifying and standards organizations, most notably and relevant to the pharmaceutical industry, ASME BioProcessing Equipment standards committee (BPE). We help develop the standards and Good Manufacturing Practices that minimize risk for process interference.
Steridose partners with the best distributors and representatives in the industry all over the world. Together we become the perfect mix; a premium product with global references combined with local presence for product and application support.