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When packaging operations for Abilify, a drug to treat schizophrenia, and Coumadin, a blood thinner, were transferred to a different plant, Bristol-Myers Squibb decided to install a new bottle containment filling line. The goal was to improve fill accuracy and protect workers from the products’ dust. New Brunswick, NJ-based Bristol-Myers Squibb researched different fillers on the market and chose the Model 815 15-wheel bottle filler from Aylward Enterprises. This story describes Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Mt. Vernon, IN, facility's employment of a restricted access barrier system to protect workers from high-potency drugs.
Nowhere in packaging are flexibility and fast changeover more necessary than in the contract-packaging arena, where multiple customers and their many SKUs are a fact of life. That’s why ease of changeover was a key machine characteristic sought by Brecon Pharmaceuticals recently when it came time to install a new line for blister packing and cartoning of tablets. This fast-growing contract packager, acquired last year by Amerisource Bergen, is located in the UK near the town of Brecon, Wales. Both thermoforming and cold-forming of foil are routinely done on this new and highly versatile blister-pack line.
