Prefilled syringes are made by displacing a succession of syringes along a conveyor path from a supply station successively through a marking station, a filling station, and to a downstream packing station. Each of the syringes is filled with a predetermined dose of a medicament in the filling station. The syringes are marked in the marking station with machine-readable data identifying the medicament to be put in the empty syringe at the filling station. The syringes are scanned downstream of the marking station and any syringe whose data is not readable is then removed from the conveyor path, as is any syringe whose data does not correspond to the medicament filled into the syringe at the filling station.

An automated medication preparation system according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a medication preparation station where a dosage of medication is prepared in a just-in-time manner and a holding station for storing multi-use injectable medication vials, the contents of which have been previously accessed for preparing the dosage of medication at the medication preparation station and. The medication vials are cataloged according to prescribed criteria to permit later use in preparing another dosage of medication at the medication preparation station. The system include an automated transfer device for-transferring the vial from one station to another station.

In one exemplary embodiment, an automated means for storing, dispensing and orienting injectable drug vials for a robotic application is provided and includes a plurality of automated syringe preparation stations is provided. The drug vial stores the medication that is either is either in solid form and thus needs to be reconstituted into the injectable drug or the vial can contain medication that was already been previously reconstituted and is ready for delivery to the syringe. The automated means includes a robotic vial gripper device for holding and transferring one vial from one station to a next station of the robotic application; and a detector that determines whether the vial is in a correct orientation throughout one or more stations of the robotic application.

A bandolier of syringes for use in an automated syringe handling system is provided. The automated syringe handling system generally receives syringes and fills the syringe with a substance, such as a medicament. In one exemplary embodiment, the syringe handling system is a system that disperses one or more medicaments into the syringes in an automated manner. The bandolier includes a web, e.g., a strip of transparent material partially encapsulating bodies of syringes that are bound to the web at a prescribed interval. The bandolier includes a feature disposed within the prescribed interval and between the syringes with the feature being different from the surrounding web.

An inventive method, system and apparatus are provided for syringe handling, and more particularly, for syringe labeling, filling and capping operations. To facilitate syringe handling, an inventive apparatus includes a plurality of syringe bodies interconnected in a predetermined orientation by a belt. Such belt may be of pliable construction and may define a predetermined spacing in between adjacent ones of the syringe bodies, such predetermined spacing corresponding with a distance between holders provided in a handling apparatus. The syringe handling apparatus may provide for the placement of contents-related information on belt segments between adjacent syringe bodies and for separating the belt segments, wherein a flap is left interconnected to each syringe body. The syringe handling apparatus may alternatively or also provide for automated filling of the syringe bodies wherein cap removal, filling and cap replacement operations are completed free from manual handling.