Tabletop filling machine boosts bespoke medicine production

Established in 2008 by two pharmacists, TEMAG Pharma manufactures and supplies medicinal ‘specials’, which are essentially unlicensed medicines, albeit ones that are registered and regulated by the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

“If a patient can’t swallow tablets, for example, we will make a liquid version; or if a patient is allergic to a particular medicinal ingredient, we can produce an alternative that omits the offending additive,” explained Greg Tombs, the company’s operations manager.

TEMAG Pharma has generally produced one-off batches to meet individual customers’ requirements, but more recently the company has experienced increased requests for larger batches - some up to 150 bottles.

“These were proving extremely challenging to fill accurately using a manual pipette,” said Tombs. “It was also very laborious and repetitive, so we explored the idea of introducing a little automation. We sourced a few potential suppliers and staged trials with three machines. However, we immediately liked the build quality of the Flexicon PF6 tabletop filling machine. It came across as solid, professional and precise. Also, regarding the flow of liquid, we could see it was more consistent than the competitor machines, with far fewer bubbles.”

The Flexicon PF6, available through Watson-Marlow Pumps Group, offers an accuracy of ±0.5%, which is obtained through Flexicon’s pulse-free peristaltic filling. A wide range of volumes from 0.5 to 250 mL can be filled, while changeover between batches or different liquids takes less than 60 seconds. Importantly, there is no potential for cross-contamination or requirement for cleaning validation as the liquid touches nothing but the tubing and the filling nozzle.

“We also like the fact that the system is expandable,” Tombs said. “If we desire, in the future we can easily upgrade to add bottle handling and capping and make the system fully automated.”

After installing the peristaltic filling machine in early 2013, TEMAG Pharma has used the machine on at least a weekly basis.

“The Flexicon PF6 machine has improved our large batch filling operations no end,” said Tombs. “When I think about how we were doing it before - gauging bottle fill-levels by eye, mopping up spillages and so on - this machine has really changed our strategy. It has also produced financial savings. To fill a big batch manually would previously have engaged one of our technicians for an entire day. Now we can process the entire batch in just 60 minutes.”

This is vital as TEMAG Pharma prides itself on fulfilling orders in extremely short lead times, without compromising on quality - and this has been key to its success. In just five years, the company has grown to employ 17 staff and today supplies a host of bespoke medicinal products to pharmaceutical wholesalers, pharmacies, dispensing doctors and hospitals throughout the UK