With the industrial world continually in quest of the new and innovative it’s sometimes easy to miss the contribution made by technology that’s been around a while and become trusted. ALUS (Automatic Loading and Unloading Systems for freeze dryers) over the last 25 years or so has become such an unsung hero.
In the 1980s, GEA Lyophil was one of the first companies to manufacture and subsequently improve ALUS, both as permanently installed and flexible transfer cart systems. In 1997 the company was the first to start up a complete system consisting of freeze dryer, ALUS and isolators, recognising the industry’s needs for contamination prevention and operator protection. GEA Lyophil continues the development and manufacture of the system today.
In pharmaceutical manufacturing it is vitally important to keep contamination out of the product and to protect the workforce from potentially harmful substances. The best way to do this is to remove, as far as possible, the operator from the processing area. ALUS achieves this and increases efficiency at the same time.
ALUS loads and unloads vials smoothly into and out from the freeze dryer with the minimum of operator monitoring. Vials remain covered by laminar air flow during the loading process, and there are no moving parts above the open vials that would risk contamination. ALUS also complies with ATEX guidelines for drugs needing alcohol based solvents.
The benefits of using ALUS are:
• 100% utilisation of the charging area and of the plant capacity;
• Lyophilisers (freeze dryers) can be validated and meet GMP guidelines and Class 100 sterility requirements;
• High quality construction for maximum availability;
• Greatly reduced risk of product contamination by reducing the cleanroom personnel down to one operator;
• Cost reduction by using isolator and containment technology (reduction of costly cleanroom area);
• Sterilisation of the system with VHP (vaporised hydrogen peroxide).
Although ALUS has been around for a long time, the technology has continued to develop with GEA Lyophil leading the way. Today GEA Lyophil has the facilities to test freeze dryers with ALUS in-house for fast installation and configuration on site; ALUS can be used with isolators or RABS, whichever is most appropriate, for applications involving highly potent drugs. It can also serve as retrofit option to give existing freeze dryers a new lease of life, whether originally supplied by Lyophil or not.
With more than 50 validated ALUS plants in operation, GEA Lyophil has the longest experience in the industry.