Did you know that many of our most critical life-saving vaccines, serums, and tests require storage temperatures as low as -70℃?
Chemical reactions can affect pharmaceuticals if they are not adequately stored at temperatures that will slow down these enzymes.
Unfortunately, when these products are removed from the cold chain, they are exposed to higher temperatures, which decreases their potency. This is permanent, and in some cases, the drug may even be destroyed.
Garvey vial drying solutions help pharmaceutical companies preserve the cold chain by reducing the time it takes to inspect and label vials during packaging.
We will explain how the cold chain works and why pharmaceutical companies trust us to ensure the integrity and potency of their products.
What is the cold chain?
The cold chain system describes the processes for storing and transporting temperature-sensitive products in their potent states from the manufacturer to the end user.
By identifying and reducing temperature excursions, pharmaceutical companies can ensure their drugs remain safe and effective.
Consider why you store food in the freezer. The freezing temperatures slow down activities that cause the food to spoil, allowing you to keep it longer until you are ready to consume it. The cold chain works similarly.
How Garvey maintains the cold chain during the packaging process
Much of the cold chain’s focus has been placed on the equipment used during storage and shipment, but Garvey Corporation has found a method to reduce the time out of the cold chain by 24 to 48 hours during the packaging process.
What are the challenges of vial drying for inspection and labeling?
Vials full of drugs are stored in refrigerators or freezers, depending on the exact temperature that must be maintained. These vials do not get labeled until their final destination has been determined.
When ready to ship, the vials are removed from the cold chain to begin the inspection and labeling process. However, bringing the cold vials into normal room conditions creates a challenge.
Just as fog forms on the glass of your favorite cold beverage on a summer day, condensation forms outside the glass vials when they are removed from cold storage.
This moisture makes visual inspection very difficult and interferes with label adhesion.
How does Garvey speed up the packaging process for vaccines?
The current solution, in most facilities, is to move the batch of vials into a conditioning room for 24 to 48 hours to allow the condensation to dissipate. This extended time out of the cold chain has nothing but adverse effects on the product.
Our innovative solution combines our patented pressure-less loop technology with a high-volume laminar flow accumulator to dry the vials and feed them in a single file to a labeler or inspection machine at rates up to 900 vials per minute.
This is the fastest out-feed rate in the industry, and the entire process is complete in less than 15 minutes.
The Garvey Automatic Vial Dryer utilizes a modular design and can be configured to fit even the tightest production line layouts. Various in-feed and out-feed options are offered, and the machine will handle products ranging from 2ml lyophilized products to 50 ml liquid-filled vials.
Companies that handle temperature-sensitive products are responsible for delivering them as expected and undamaged.
Understanding the cumulative effect of improper temperatures on these life-saving drugs shows the value of eliminating 24 or 48 hours out of the cold chain.
Although maintaining temperatures as low as winter in Antarctica isn’t easy, our automatic vial dryer will keep your vials in the cold as much as possible.
Learn more about our automatic vial drying systems and other cold chain packaging solutions today.