Pharma Clean In Place (CIP) and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

Question:
What is clean in place (CIP)? What are four reasons the pharmaceutical industry commonly employs clean in place (CIP) systems? Does Alconox, Inc have information on CIP Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs)?

Answer:
CIP stands for Clean-In-Place and is a method of cleaning the interior surfaces of closed systems and process equipment without dismantling the equipment. There are different types of CIP including, single pass systems and recirculation system.
The pharmaceutical industry heavily relies on clean in place (CIP) system because operators are not required to enter plant to clean, difficult to access areas can be cleaned, production time between production runs is minimized, and recycling the cleaner can reduce cost. Equipment used in pharmaceutical manufacturing must be cleaned before each use, and the cleaning procedure used must be in accordance with good manufacturing practices (GMPs). Alconox provides support to meet cGMP regulations. In fact, Alconox, Inc technical team has written The Aqueous Cleaning Handbook, where Standard Operating Procedures for CIP systems are discussed (see Chapter 7). For more information or get your free copy of The Aqueous Cleaning Handbook visit, http://www.alconox.com/section_customer/book_info.asp.