WMFTS Showcases New Single-Use Solutions Designed to Optimize Fluid Management

Editor's note: this story was originally published on BioPharmInternational.com.

Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Solutions (WMFTS), a manufacturer of peristaltic pumps and associated fluid path technologies, has launched WMArchitect, a range of flexible, single-use solutions for biopharmaceutical fluid management. This platform is built on the company's predecessor product lines, such as puresu and asepticsu. The new offering aims to streamline biopharma processing, safeguard product, and reduce regulatory burden, according to an April 15, 2024 company press release.

WMFTS now offers customized designs from its component library as well as a selection of standard, ready-to-use single-use assemblies. The WMArchitect offering represents an end-to-end, single-use fluid path management solution consisting of:

• Customized designs: single-use assembliescan be custom-designed to meet specific requirements with an open architecture model that allows for flexibility and compatibility with existing fluid-contact materials already used in a company’s bioprocess.
• Single-use fluid transfer assemblies: these fluid-transfer assembliesare ready-to-use, are pre-designed, and offer lot traceable tubing and components for optimizing fluid transfer between equipment and process steps. The latter can be selected from a menu of validated components.

• Fill/finish single-use assemblies: these fill/finish assemblies are designed tosafeguard therapeutic products during the filling process using a range of sterility-assured assembly configurations. Representative assemblies are routinely tested to determine bioburden and presence of particulates and endotoxin.
• Validation testing: WMFTS specialists offer support to WMArchitectusers using bioprocessing expertise and customized validation packages. The aim is to help reduce a company’s regulatory burden.

“By listening to the evolving needs of our biopharmaceutical customers, we have created WMArchitect to provide an expert solution that supports them in mitigating their regulatory and supply chain risks,” said Nicole Hunter, head of Global WMArchitect, in a company press release. “WMFTS understands that, often, off-the-shelf products are merely a starting point. We customize our standard products to provide a complete and tested solution from a single supplier that is tailored to meet a company’s specific requirements.”

WMArchitect is suitable for high-purity biopharmaceutical process development, clinical trials, and small-to-large-scale production batches. The most critical component for maximizing performance is at the point where the tubing meets the pump, the company acknowledged in its press release. In recent years, single-use components such as tubing, connectors, and valves have allowed for more efficient workflows. For instance, single-use tubing, connectors, and valve components can eliminate cleaning-in-place (CIP) and sterilizing-in-place (SIP) procedures. Removing these steps, which are often costly, time-consuming, and contribute to downtime, can increase manufacturing throughput and productivity of a facility. Furthermore, the time and personnel once used for CIP/SIP (e.g., of stainless-steel process lines) can then be reallocated to other areas of production, thus increasing overall efficiency of the manufacturing process (1).

WMFTS’ assembly solutions are designed synergistically with the company’s peristaltic pump technologies and filling solutions to ensure reliable, repeatable performance for even sensitive processes. In addition, a dedicated WMArchitect business unit offers benefits such as reduction of validation burden, support of internal validation protocols, an open architecture approach that allows flexible integration, synergistic use with the company’s peristaltic pumps of filling systems, and supply security based on the company’s global manufacturing and supply network.

The company will be showcasing its WMArchitect single-use solutions line at INTERPHEX, held in New York City on April 16–18, 2024.

Reference

1. Mirasol, F. Fluid Handling Systems are Seeing Benefit from Single-Use Technologies. BioPharm Int. 2021, 34 (4), 24–25.

Source: Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Solutions