The latest in Romaco's Noack 9000 series of blister packaging machines, the T6 offers a wide range of divergent manufacturing requirements with a single machine.
The Firm hopes that the technology will appeal to companies looking to streamline their pharmaceutical packaging processes for greater efficiency.
The US market for pharmaceutical packaging will grow by nearly a third between 2004 and 2011, driven by the increasing demands placed on packaging by biologic drugs and novel drug delivery formulations, according to consulting firm Frost & Sullivan (F&S).
F&S suggests that the market will swell from $2.6 billion (€2.2 billion) in 2004 to just under $3.4 billion in 2011 as the role of pharmaceutical packaging shifts from a passive to an active one.
Biologics-based drugs - which are particularly sensitive to moisture, oxygen, and light - require high barrier packages, and are driving the adoption of blister packaging.
Blister packaging is now becoming widely used in Europe although it is currently not as popular in the US as yet.
Blister packaging's share of the market is predicted to continue to rise on the back of increasing recognition of the positive impact it can have on patient compliance.
The T6 provides pharmaceutical manufacturers with versatility with a modular design, enabling a user to specify their sealing method of choice - platen or rotary.
The machine is also suitable for manufacturing solid dose forms such as tablets or capsules or powder for soft gelatin capsules.
The T6 uses open-standard extensible markup language (XML) technology, which enables integration with downstream and ancillary equipment.
It has centralised control, a completely interchangeable feeding system, a new sealing system with dynamic adjustment and sophisticated buffering, stacking and control systems.
The first installation in a series of planned launches for the Romaco T6 is currently taking place at a leading European packaging specialist.
Based in the UK, Romaco is a global supplier of process and packaging lines for the pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food industries.