Pharmaceutical Processing World

  • Home
  • Regulatory
    • Recalls
  • Pharmaceutical Processing
  • Facility
  • Supply Chain
  • Equipment and Materials
  • Contract Manufacturing
  • R&D 100 Awards

Distributed control system supports CMO’s surge in drug production during the pandemic

By Brian Buntz | December 17, 2021

NovaTechIn the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) quickly expanded its manufacturing capacity at its Greenville, North Carolina plant to meet demand. The expansion involved adding a new production suite, safeguarding quality, and enabling sufficient production flexibility.

During the expansion, the plant upgraded its existing Distributed Control System (DCS) to support the production of two vital pharmaceuticals during the pandemic. The first was for the antiviral drug Veklury (remdesivir) from Gilead Sciences (NSDQ:GILD). FDA approved Veklury to treat patients with COVID-19 needing hospitalization. Thermo Fisher Scientific retooled the plant to manufacture the EUA-authorized Moderna (NSDQ:MRNA) COVID-19 vaccine.

When retooling their plant, Thermo Fisher upgraded their DCS, which supports the production, conveying and handling of pharmaceuticals.

Vials

Image courtesy of NovaTech Automation

In late 2020, boosting the manufacturing of antivirals for those hospitalized with COVID-19 was critical, according to Chris Gepfert, regional sales and MSR channel manager at NovaTech LLC Process Division. Gepfert was involved in the DCS implementation of Thermo Fisher’s Greenville facility. Gepfert said that this process involved adding a new production line, requiring on-site construction and FDA testing.

The plant already used NovaTech’s D/3 DCS and management. The CMO decided to use the distributed control system in the new suite expansions. The system shows real-time process information via a high-performance graphical human-machine interface (HMI).

The CMO and NovaTech worked together to support the need for flexibility in the new suite expansions, according to Gepfert. When the CMO landed a high-volume vaccine contract, the plant’s DCS system could handle the production boost.

Gepfert notes that for high-volume production of this sort, CMOs often require automation to bolster production and reduce operator involvement while reducing the potential error rate.

The DCS uses a modern I/O system, the 8000 series platform, a remote I/O family native integrated with the D/3 System. The combination supports enhanced automation with improved diagnostics, troubleshooting and asset management capability.

Vials

Image courtesy of NovaTech Automation

The system supports significant batch process control and automation, with the Sequence and Batch Language (SABL) that the D/3 controllers use. It also supports an S88-based layered batch management package called FlexBatch.

Because the pandemic has disrupted routine CMO production planning, a DCS needs to be flexible and capable of supporting required changes to vaccine and therapeutic manufacture rapidly and easily, Gepfert said.

Tell Us What You Think! Cancel reply

Related Articles Read More >

analyzing medical sample
Expert answers to nitrosamine impurity questions
Touchlight
Touchlight inks patent license deal with Pfizer related to the use of dbDNA in mRNA products
Pfizer logo
Pfizer seeks to comply with voluntary Net-Zero Standard by 2040
Cambridge Pharma launches with UK plant in Cambridge Research Park

DeviceTalks Tuesdays

DeviceTalks Tuesdays

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.

Need Pharmaceutical Processing news in a minute?

We Deliver!
Pharmaceutical Processing Enewsletters get you caught up on all the mission critical news you need. Sign up today.
Enews Signup
Pharmaceutical Processing World
  • Subscribe to Our Free E-Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Advertise With Us
  • R&D World
  • Drug Delivery Business News
  • Drug Discovery & Development
  • DeviceTalks
  • MassDevice
  • Medical Design & Outsourcing
  • MEDICAL TUBING + EXTRUSION
  • Medical Design Sourcing
  • Medtech100 Index

Copyright © 2022 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search Pharmaceutical Processing World

  • Home
  • Regulatory
    • Recalls
  • Pharmaceutical Processing
  • Facility
  • Supply Chain
  • Equipment and Materials
  • Contract Manufacturing
  • R&D 100 Awards