Wayne, Pa.-based Tekni-Plex Inc. developed a new bench-top vial filling and sealing machine that it says is ideal for lab research and small-quantity startup production.
The Pentafill L + Fill machine adds filling capability to the Pentafill L unit, which only seals the vials. The new machine accommodates five-unit strips of 0.33-, 0.6-, 1-, 3-, 5- and 10-milliliter vials made from polyethylene., LDPE, LLDPE, HDPE, polypropylene and EVOH barrier.
"The demand for this type of capability continues to increase as pharmaceutical manufacturers look for alternatives to expensive, hard-to-source glass vials," according to Melissa Green, global senior director marketing and strategy for Tekni-Plex Healthcare Packaging.
To execute a fill and seal, an operator loads the five-unit strips into a holder and manually inserts them into the machine. The vials are filled and sealed automatically and manually removed from the holder.
Up until now, pharmaceutical companies and labs had to manually fill small-scale production vials before inserting them into the machine for sealing, Green said in a news release.
"This resulted in fills that were frequently imprecise and therefore not ideal for lab research or therapeutic use. To help eliminate that issue, our customers asked us to create a unit that would provide precision fills, each and every time," Green said.
The Pentafill L + Fill machine includes a heating head, cold-molding pliers and a sealer. It features interchangeable holders for different vial capacities and simple external controls to execute the fills and seals.
Tekni-Plex Healthcare Packaging, including Tekni-Plex Flexibles, Tekni-Films, Lameplast, LF of America and Beyers Plastics, produces packaging for the medical device and pharmaceutical markets at nine manufacturing plants in North America and Europe.