Pall Corp.

Above photo: Ascotec Minicapt sampler. For larger image click here.Pall Corp. announced Jan. 17 that it has entered into an agreement with Biotrace International Plc (Bridgend, Wales, U.K.) giving Pall exclusive global marketing and distribution rights to the range of Ascotec environmental air monitoring products for the pharmaceutical industry. As part of the worldwide agreement, the two companies will also work together on the development of additional innovative products for the rapid detection of contamination. Microbiological monitoring of manufacturing processes is critical to ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and product safety.The Ascotec products are used to monitor the quality of the air and compressed gases in the production environment. They are used wherever clean rooms are required for manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, personal healthcare products and cosmetics and in other clinical environments such as hospitals to reliably capture bacteria in the environment for subsequent monitoring. The agreement will provide industry the ability to access the Ascotec air monitoring technologies to better enable them to achieve the goals of the FDA's Process Analytical Technology (PAT) initiative. The PAT initiative encourages manufacturers to adopt new analytical technologies to better control manufacturing processes and provide greater assurances of product safety.“The addition of the Ascotec air sampler to our rapid microbiology platform, including the Pallchek monitor, gives customers around the globe access to a proven technology that meets the most stringent clean room standards,” says Ken Frank, President, Pall Biopharmaceuticals. “It is an ideal complement to our capabilities in process and environmental monitoring technology and aligns with our business strategy to be a total solutions provider for the biotech and pharmaceutical industry.”Ian Johnson, CEO of Biotrace, said, “This agreement is another important milestone in our strategy to develop a broad business base in industrial microbiology. Our leading position in proprietary microbial testing technologies coupled with Pall’s strong customer relationships worldwide in the pharmaceutical industries will greatly enhance our presence in this attractive market. The combination of Pall’s filtration technologies and know-how with our technologies and expertise in rapid microbiology will create the next generation of fast testing solutions reducing the ‘time to result’ and improving production efficiency.”For more information on Biotrace, visit www.biotrace.co.uk.