The FDA reiterated its belief that the use of continuous processing in drug-making will yield an improvement in quality over batch processing. At a recent internal symposium, the regulator indicated that it encourages pharmaceutical companies to pursue continuous processing.
Pfizer, GSK and equipment-maker GEA Pharma Systems made presentations to more than 100 FDA staffers at the event, according to an announcement. Speakers described the benefits of continuous processing, including easy or no scale-up, flexible batch size, fast development with less product, and constant quality, the announcement says. GEA Pharma described its ConsiGma Tableting Line, a continuous-production system for converting powder to tablets.
Some manufacturers believe that continuous processing is the future of tablet making. A U.K. consortium, of which GEA Pharma is a member, sees the manufacturing technique as one means of making the U.K. cost competitive in manufacturing with low-cost economies.
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