New solution will accelerate pipeline and improve quality for oral solid dose manufacturing

AUSTIN, Texas (March 9, 2021) – Emerson, a global manufacturing software and technology leader, and IMA Active, a world leader in solid dose processing, will collaborate on developing new strategies and software to control continuous manufacturing of oral solid dose pharmaceuticals. The two companies will focus on making it easier for pharmaceutical manufacturers to adopt continuous manufacturing and accelerate patient access by improving the quality, quantity and efficiency of production.

In developing the new control strategies, IMA Active will apply its unique understanding of equipment design, machine integration and process logic to identify optimum performance for essential equipment. Emerson will couple these new performance strategies with its advanced, scalable automation technologies and software to deliver robust process monitoring and control.

“We appreciate partners able to share our holistic vision of automation. Having a powerful and flexible platform to enable predictive analysis, to speed and simplify integration of the Pharma 4.0 ecosystem and with wide data integration capabilities is a requirement,” said Marco Minardi, automation manager at IMA Active. “In Emerson, we found a truly common will to achieve these results and an effective user experience that will simplify adoption of continuous manufacturing technology.”

Continuous pharmaceutical processes require precise process control, reliable monitoring of critical parameters to assure quality attributes, process analytical technology (PAT) measurements, accurate processing of analytical data, and advanced control techniques. To manage all these critical variables, manufacturers leverage automation technologies to orchestrate production.

The new software solution will intelligently detect, predict, and alert the occurrence of adverse production events to improve quality and reduce risk. At the heart of the solution, Emerson’s DeltaV™ distributed control system will orchestrate the entire oral solid dose continuous manufacturing line, managing control and automation of a wide variety of equipment and subsystems.

“IMA Active is a master in the processes and equipment required for oral solid dose manufacturing” said Xavier Marchant, vice president of life sciences at Emerson. “Together, our two companies will create a solution that makes it easier and faster to adopt continuous manufacturing and unlock the highest level of quality at the lowest production cost.”