ConsiGma® 4.0 from GEA makes Continuous Manufacturing Technology available to all

In a significant step forward to bring continuous processing technology to a broader pharmaceutical customer segment, GEA has repositioned its ConsiGma® portfolio to ensure that new drugs can be brought to market as quickly and cost-effectively as possible.

As the world emerges from the global Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic, the pharmaceutical industry — perhaps one of the most “essential” manufacturing sectors — is witnessing a period of unprecedented change. With the recent and ongoing efforts to develop safe and efficacious treatments against COVID-19, innovators and generics producers around the world have increasingly realized that collaboration and co-operation are the very cornerstones of expedited drug development.

GEA believes that these fundamental principles should be wholeheartedly adopted by the entire biotech and pharma business ecosystem, both now and in the future, as new therapeutics are brought to market. As a result, GEA has taken a major step to make its cutting-edge continuous manufacturing equipment available to all. By taking a more holistic and inclusive stance as a trusted supplier to the pharmaceutical industry, the company can now deliver an unparalleled combination of highly effective, flexible, modularized and cost-efficient production solutions to a wider and more diverse array of companies.

Committed to “engineering for a better world,” GEA has expanded, integrated and consolidated its ConsiGma® portfolio of continuous oral solid dosage equipment. From material handling, dispensing and blending to granulation, drying, tablet compression and coating, the company can now provide top-of-the-range, fully configurable manufacturing systems that convert powder to coated tablets in a single line, as well as customer-specific “bin-to-bin” solutions and connect them to existing plant.

The multipurpose ConsiGma® 4.0 platform — designed to transfer powder into coated tablets in development, pilot, clinical and production volumes — can now be supplied as standalone or modular plant for dedicated unit operations and installed in both new and existing facilities with third-party machinery.

“Irrespective of the end product, from over-the-counter medicines and generics to nutraceuticals and new chemical entities, the time for continuous manufacturing is now,” said GEA’s Richard Steiner, Global Sales Director, Continuous Technologies. “Our equipment can help you to optimize your quality assurance procedures, offer higher levels of process transparency and tighter control of your entire supply chain, resulting in improved productivity, increased Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and enhanced real-time planning and scheduling,” he added.

Based on three pillars of flexibility, modularity and affordability, the ConsiGma® 4.0 range is highly configurable, proven and fully compatible with Industry 4.0. “ConsiGma® 4.0 is ready for the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT),” adds Richard: “The ability to gather and analyze data in real-time results in faster and more efficient manufacturing processes that produce higher-quality goods at a reduced cost.”

“The in-process control of critical quality attributes (CQAs) and real-time feedback delivered by continuous manufacturing technology is no longer optional, it’s an imperative. Speed to market has never been more important.” “GEA and its partners are leading the way toward modular, more flexible, continuous processing technologies that have the potential to transform the future of pharmaceutical development and manufacturing — from small-scale to high-volume products — and deliver customized quantities of drugs to patients in need in a quick and efficient way. ConsiGma® 4.0 is the next step in that journey,” he concluded.