Altana Pharma achieves sample identification with SATO

Altana Pharma Deutschland GmbH, Constance, a German subsidiary of Altana Pharma Corporation, has installed a sample identification system within their medication research process using SATO's CT410 label printers.

Altana Pharma, which specializes in the areas of therapeutics, imaging and self-medication, uses the SATO label printers in their metabolism and pharmacogenetics department for the seamless identification of test tubes that are used for bio-chemical analysis in medication research.

The CT410 from SATO is a compact yet robust label printer. It is equipped with a high-speed RISC processor for high data throughput and a choice of print heads for high resolution printing up to 12 dots/mm. With its special antimicrobial casing, the CT Series is especially suited for applications in the pharmaceutical environment, as well as in laboratories and hospitals.

The medication research process begins with a unique identifier barcode for each sample, which is generated by an Oracle database. SATO's CT410 prints this code together with the detailed data (patient number and time) on the label, which Altana then applies to the test tube before the test tubes are sent by Altana to the clinic to take body fluid samples. The unique identifier serves to clearly and automatically identify a sample throughout its whole life span. When the filled test tubes return from the clinic, the labels are automatically scanned to determine if the samples are complete. At each step of the analytical process at Altana, the label is again automatically checked, so that a sample's whereabouts can be tracked at any given moment.

Werner Mller, IT project coordinator at Altana Pharma in Constance, said, ‘As other departments had already realized positive experiences with the robustness and reliability of SATO printers, it seemed only natural to also use SATO products for our sample identification system. Also, the price-quality ratio of SATO printers easily convinced us.’