APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR ASEPTICALY FILLING PHARMACEUTICAL CONTAINERS WITH A PHARMACEUTICAL FLUID USING ROTARY STAGE

A system for filling nested pharmaceutical containers with a pharmaceutical fluid is disclosed. In one general aspect, it comprises a sterilizable chamber containing a planar rotary stage with a fiducial locating structure for holding a pharmaceutical container nest. The chamber has a rotatable cover removal station, a rotatable filling station with a dispenser head, and camera guided vacuum pickup facilities for handling container and closure nests. An associated method for filling the containers comprises establishing an aseptic condition within the chamber; removing covers from a container tub and a container closure tub by operating both the rotary stage and the cover removal station. The vacuum pickup facility transfers into the fiducial locating structure a container nest bearing pharmaceutical containers. The fluid is dispensed into the containers by operating both the rotary stage and the filling station. A container closure nest is placed on the container nest in the fiducial locating structure with closures in correspondence with containers. A ram in the chamber forces the closures into the containers.