Dispensing robot flown to UK
Part of the MTS Packaging Systems machine is shown to Conference
participants |
A fully automated, multiple monitored-dose dispensing robot was displayed in the United Kingdom for the first time at BPC.
“We believe it is the first machine in the world to offer multi-dose
dispensing in blister packs to this level of automation,” said
Todd Siegel, president of MTS Packaging Systems, the American company
that brought
the robot to the Conference.
The robot, called “OnDemand”, holds 400 drugs. Barcodes from
stock pots are scanned in, and then each drug is placed loose into a
cassette. Prescription information is fed into a computer operating the
robot and, once it is told to dispense the items for a particular patient,
the robot fills the dosage system. It uses a standard disposable monitored
dose pack with four blisters for each day. The robot is able to fill
multiple drugs into each blister at once.
Once the pack has been filled it comes out of the machine open so that
a physical inspection can be made before it is sealed. Finally the labels
are printed and stuck on to the pack in one movement using the prescription
data fed into the computer at the start of the dispensing process.
Peter Williams, general manager of MTS Packaging Systems International,
the UK subsidiary of the company, said: “It takes less than a minute
from the prescription data to the end product, irrespective of the complexity
of the drug regimen.”
The new robots cost £190,000 each and the company expects them
to be used in hospitals or in centralised dispensaries for a number of
community pharmacies. |
