PHARMA FOCUS // LAB EQUIPMENT & SERVICES
Safety, quality and digital transformation on show
Laboratory accuracy and quality assurance as well as digital transformation will be among the top discussion points featured in the forum area at this year’s analytica Lab Africa. Presented by Messe München South Africa, analytica lab Africa is the only trade fair in South Africa for laboratory technology, analysis, biotechnology and diagnostics. In 2021, analytica Lab Africa’s forum will follow some of the key trends identified at the highly successful international analytica virtual 2020 event, where the number one topic was digital transformation and the lab of the future. Dain Richardson, senior exhibition manager, says Messe München’s international trade fair, analytica and its regional series are key forums for product discovery and knowledge sharing for the sector. “Analytica 2020 was a fully virtual event for the first time in its history, and there were over 21 000 participations who attended the 200 exhibitor webinars and 119 scientific conference presentations, where digitisation and automation were key topics. Analytica Lab Africa will follow these trends in its forum programme, with content formatted to suit the African environment and market,” she says.
FORUM PROGRAMME IN FOCUS
The forum programme will include talks on the effect of automation on quality and precision, quality control in manufacturing sanitisation validation and spectroscopy and micro-elemental analysis devices. Speakers will deliver presentations on root cause analysis for food safety, and water and food safety – moving from a target model to a holistic perspective. Some of the leading manufacturers and distributors which will participate in the analytica Lab Africa exhibition area include: Chemetrix Export; Eins-Sci; Inqaba Biotechnology Industries; Leco Africa; Metrohm South Africa; and United Spectrometer Technologies. Analytica lab Africa will be co-located with IFAT Africa and food & drink technology Africa, with AECI Water as the diamond sponsor of the three co-located trade fairs, which will take place from 13 to 15 July 2021 at Gallagher Convention Centre.
COVID-19 vaccines and the last mile While we await the first vaccines to either arrive in the country via air, or under licence from locally manufactured sources, there remains another obstacle. The so-called cold supply chain that needs to remain intact when delivering the COVID-19 vaccine country-wide. The temperatures need to go well below 0°Celsius, and in some cases down to -70°C. If not, the vaccine will break down and become unusable by the time it reaches the patient. While this distribution might be easier for European countries and the USA, it’s likely to be a mammoth logistical challenge for Africa.
SHIPPING AND COLD STORAGE CHALLENGES
South Africa has recorded more than 1 million coronavirus infections – the highest number on the African continent – and more than 30 000 deaths. So far, it is hosting at least four clinical trials of potential COVID-19 vaccines, including the J&J candidate which will be produced locally. The vaccine will have to travel from manufacturing plants to storage and distribution facilities and then healthcare establishments. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, from its point of manufacture to
patient administration, cannot be removed from a temperature of -70°C more than four times. This is different for the Modena vaccine, which can be stored for six months at -20°C for shipping and long-term storage, and at standard refrigeration temperatures between 2°C to 8°C for 30 days. Two doses of both vaccines are required.
TEMPERATURE-SENSITIVE SOLUTIONS
For many years, Labotec has been at the forefront of delivering time- and temperature-sensitive solutions with the Forma Thermo Scientific range of high performance freezers and fridges. The company’s specialists have already explored the best options for the COVID-19 vaccine with a comprehensive strategy. Thermo Scientific cold storage products are designed and built to support the temperature requirements of pharmaceuticals and vaccine manufacturing as well as distribution and storage worldwide with products devised to deliver safe and reliable vaccine storage while supporting accreditation and quality management standards. Labotec – www.labotec.co.za
analytica Lab Africa – www.analytica-africa.com
WWW.PHARMACOS.CO.ZA // JANUARY 2021
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