GEA and Perceptive Engineering have announced a collaboration to promote and deploy cutting-edge multivariate monitoring and Advanced Process Control (APC) solutions for batch and continuous pharmaceutical process units.

The partnership will further enhance GEA’s ConsiGma® platform for oral solid dose (OSD) pharmaceutical development and manufacturing by offering Perceptive's “out of the box” APC and monitoring capabilities. The continuous monitoring of product quality can prevent out-of-specification deviations and decrease production costs, as well as reducing final quality inspections by facilitating real-time release testing.

The partnership builds on the successful implementation of Perceptive’s APC platform into the first-generation PCMM (portable, continuous, miniature and modular) platform for the development and production of pharmaceutical OSDs. Originally conceived in conjunction with Pfizer and G-CON, the three companies formed a consortium to design and build a portable, autonomous manufacturing environment for continuous OSD production using GEA’s ConsiGma® 25 equipment and G-CON's modular POD system. A prototype unit is currently being implemented at Pfizer’s labs in Groton (Connecticut, USA).

This collaboration also builds on the previously announced relationship between GEA and Siemens, as well as the existing association between Siemens and Perceptive. Together, this provides a leading-edge, industrially proven solution for pharmaceutical manufacturers, comprising both hardware and software platforms, as well as PAT integration, process monitoring, process analytics, control and optimization. This complete, seamless suite is designed to help pharma companies exploit the opportunities presented by moving to continuous manufacturing.

To find out more, and learn about ACHEMA, please visit the GEA website.