New TruScan device is 'faster, smaller and more powerful'

Thermo Fisher Scientific has launched a new version of its handheld TruScan analyser which not only increases the speed with which the device can identify chemicals, but also broadens the range of compounds it can handle.

The new TruScan RM device combines traditional Raman with an optical analysis platform which means it can now be used to identify and validate compounds for which Raman analysis was traditionally considered too slow or impractical.

The original TruScan, acquired by Thermo along with its developer Ahura Scientific in 2010, has been very successful in the marketplace thanks to its small form factor and ease of use. It has been deployed at more than a hundred sites in the pharmaceutical industry for a range of applications, including screening of raw materials at manufacturing facilities.

The unit has also proved useful in identifying counterfeit medicines, and is employed for this purpose by regulatory and enforcement bodies around the world to check products in the field as well as in the lab.

The TruScan RM weighs less than half the original unit at 0.9kg and is designed to be handled for long periods of time while limiting the strain on personnel in the field or warehouse, according to Duane Sword, Thermo's vice president, marketing and international sales for the portable optical analysis division. It also delivers results up to five times faster.

"The new device has improvements in the detector sensitivity, fluorescence management, method-development and photo-bleaching management," Sword told SecuringPharma.com. That means that its range is expanded to include notable high-volume excipients, such as microcrystalline cellulose.

"From a finished product screening perspective, the dramatic increase in detector sensitivity is such that we provide even greater selectivity on not only blatant counterfeits, but also screening of sub-standard or authentic products that have been compromised through exposure to temperature, humidity, UV, or have simply just expired," he added.

The unit can handle solid and liquid raw materials, complex mixtures or final products (for example, tablets, capsules and vaccines), and has a library of more than 4,300 items for chemical discovery, in addition to the GMP library of methods and signatures that the end-user can develop for their own active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), formulations and finished products.

For compounds not amenable to Raman spectroscopy Thermo Scientific also offers a handheld GMP near infrared (NIR) instrument, the microPHAZIR-Rx.

Older unit will continue to be supported

The original TruScan unit will continue to be sold and supported for customers who do not require the "additional horse-power and capabilities offered by the TruScan RM," according to Sword.

"We want a price choice to be available in the marketplace," he said, noting that the new TruScan RM unit has a global reference price of around $60,000, while the original unit is priced at approximately $40,000.

Refurbished TruScan units (through trade-ins) are also available at around $30,000, including a one-year warranty, and a trade-in plan is available for customers to migrate from the original TruScan analyser to the new TruScan RM.


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