The new RAPID consortium will help fill and finish hundreds of millions of prefilled syringes
The new RAPID consortium will build a surge capacity network of up to eight domestic packaging facilities (Credit: Myriam Zilles from Pixabay)
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has collaborated with ApiJect Systems America to create a new consortium called Rapid Aseptic Packaging of Injectable (RAPID) to better address health emergencies such as COVID-19.
The RAPID is a US-based high-speed, high-volume and emergency drug packaging solution, which will build a surge capacity for mass-manufacturable prefilled syringes.
ApiJect Systems America secures around $456m to create and manage a new RAPID consortium, which allows the US Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) to fill and finish hundreds of millions of prefilled syringes to efficiently deal with health emergencies.
The RAPID consortium to develop a surge capacity network of up to eight domestic packaging facilities
The RAPID consortium will develop a surge capacity network of up to eight domestic packaging facilities by using Blow-Fill-Seal (BFS) drug-packaging process.
The BFS process, which is used in sterile manufacturing facilities across the world, includes a high volume and small medical-grade plastic container that holds a prefilled volume of medicines or vaccines.
The FDA-approved BFS technology is already used for the packaging of billions of doses, per annum, for medicines to treat respiratory conditions and rotavirus oral vaccines.
The RAPID Consortium will aggregate BFS technology with an advanced interlocking needle hub to produce a prefilled syringe, which addresses the inefficiencies and difficulties of packaging medicines in, and drawing medicines from, glass vials using disposable syringes.
Each prefilled syringe will be provided with an option to include an NFC chip, which integrates a secure unique ID number. It helps healthcare professionals at the point of care to use an app on their smartphones to verify that the drug being injected is authentic and unexpired.
ApiJect Systems America CEO Jay Walker said: “This partnership launched by HHS means we have joined the vital effort to battle our nation’s most urgent public health emergency in our lifetime.
“American industry has a long history of rising to the occasion to provide for emergency needs in times of crisis. Our manufacturing sector, virtually overnight, built the tools that enabled us to prevail in World War Two.”
Separately, Schreiner MediPharm collaborated with US-based provider of RFID tracking software and hardware Kit Check to offer automated medication management for hospitals.