Dr Andreas Frerix product manager for Quattroflow Fluid Systems talks about the the legacy that single-use pumps are leaving on processing systems.
Single-use
Today’s most common biopharmaceutical-manufacturing systems require the handling, transferring, processing and purification of large-molecule drugs produced in living organism-like animal-cell cultures, bacterial cells or yeast. This must be done in a liquid phase with the handling of these materials performed by pump technologies that can reliably provide volumetric consistency and accuracy, pressures and flow rates, and low-pulsation, which are required in the process, and low-shear, low-heat input and material compatibility that protects the biological drug from being harmed.
Traditionally, multiple-use (cleanable) stainless-steel pumping and processing systems have been used for these operations, but the time and cost needed to operate, clean, maintain and quality control the system before the next production run could commence became prohibitive. That led to a true innovation for the industry, the creation of single-use systems including pumps that feature a disposable pump head and chamber that can be easily removed and replaced between production runs, eliminating the time and cost needed for cleaning validation the equipment in a stainless-steel system.