Application: Laser sealing of vaccine vials

Objective: Seal the plastic cap with a perfectly flat beam to avoid the appearance of fumes

Again this project illustrates our strong partnership with our customers. We provided solutions from the feasibility stage to the delivery of large scale production lines.

To address the incidents that are still recorded each year due to the injection of contaminated products, and the complexities of vial component preparation, high-speed stoppering, and aluminum cap crimping, Aseptic Technologies, a subsidiary of GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, developed the new Crystal[R] Closed Vial technology for aseptic filling of injectable products.

This new technology consists of a ready-to-fill vial which is supplied clean and sterile to the pharmaceutical manufacturer. The filling process consists of a needle piercing the stopper and dispensing the liquid. After the needle is withdrawn, the piercing trace is laser resealed to restore closure integrity. A cap, designed to keep the stopper surface protected until use by the doctor, is then placed by snap fit. All these operations are performed inside a Closed Vial Filling System (CVFS) which ensures a permanent Class 100/Grade A/ISO 5 environment around filling operations. This new and unique process eliminates many of the traditional vial and stopper preparation steps such as washing, siliconization and sterilization.

Lasea played a major role in this technology as we developped the resealing process in conjunction with Aseptic Technologies, using our special Flat-top optical system for a perfectly homogenized beam profile. We have now provided more than 50 systems for this application. The diode laser systems are customized versions of our DL systems.