Bookmark and Share March/April 2012 Process Automation
Disposable automation  Single-use technologies for
biopharmaceutical manufacturing  Fast Forward    • Single-use
technologies, once limited to research and early clinical
manufacturing, are making inroads into later stage
manufacturing, especially for biotechnology products.   • This
trend should only increase as the industry becomes more reliant
on innovative, high value biotechnology products that must be
rushed to market.   • As the value and volume of product
manufactured with disposable systems increases, the desire for
online monitoring and control via automation systems integrated
with disposables will increase. By Chuck Mina  Long a standard
in R&D labs and medical facilities, single-use technologies are
appearing in late clinical and even commercial production within
biotechnology manufacturing. Their benefits mesh well with the
current state of the biotechnology industry. With another major
patent cliff occurring seemingly every month, the over