Everything You Need to Know About Different Types of Medical Cleanrooms

Medical cleanrooms are critical for the process of producing vaccinations and therapies through pharmaceutical goods, as well as manufacturing life-saving medical gadgets.

Medical cleanrooms are classified into three types: medical research cleanrooms, medical device cleanrooms, and pharmaceutical cleanrooms. The cleanroom design for each kind will vary based on the facility’s aims and cleanroom classification standards.

Let’s take a deeper look at these three types of medical cleanrooms and how their uses, classifications, and architecture differ.

Cleanrooms For Medical Research

Medical research cleanrooms are used to further medical knowledge, conduct research and experiments, and produce cures. They must be safe, with additional precautions in place to protect staff and their critical work from any biosecurity concerns.

The cleanroom must be sterile. Medical research cleanrooms are often classified as ISO 14644-1 Class 5-7. The level of rigor of the standard is determined by the danger of contaminants to cleanroom operations and safety.

An ISO Class 5 cleanroom environment is likely to be required for research on low particle concentration. This implies that the cleanroom must have a robust filtering system in place, with a particle count of no more than 3,520 particles, half a micron or bigger permitted.

Negative-pressure cleanrooms are frequently required in medical research applications that operate with contagious or hazardous gases or chemicals. This additional protection prevents pollutants from exiting the cleanroom and causing harm to individuals outside the cleanroom environment.

Medical research cleanrooms are fully equipped with specialized equipment, safe storage, and ergonomic furniture researchers need to do their jobs comfortably and effectively, whether for cancer research, the study of infectious diseases and viruses, or the pursuit of potent and effective vaccinations.

Softwall cleanrooms may fulfill even the most demanding classifications that these sorts of medical cleanrooms may require, and they are very adaptable to the specific demands of any application.

Cleanrooms For Medical Devices

Since medical devices come into touch with tissues and membranes, they must be contaminant-free or completely sterilized to avoid infection or other risks.

As a result, the manufacturing, assembly, and packing of medical equipment need a regulated cleanroom environment that is certified and monitored by severe criteria and quality control. The various steps are sometimes classified separately. Companies that deal in cleanroom manufacturing have expertise in the setup and are well aware of the criteria.

They provide comprehensive in-house laminating, production, and assembly, as well as a variety of automated equipment. The advantage is that they can handle your cleanroom requirements, including the wall, floor, ceiling, and air handling systems, to perfect tolerances.

Medical device cleanrooms that manufacture non-critical and semi-critical devices fall into the ISO Class 7-8 range, whereas devices that require critical disinfection levels (such as surgical equipment and implanted devices) require the cleanest environments and must comply with ISO Class 5 or higher.

Essentially, as device part sizes get smaller and more sophisticated, the stringency of requirements rises. While medical device packaging cleanrooms are still extremely tightly regulated for contamination, they usually work under ISO Class 7-8 specifications.

A softwall cleanroom is the optimum form of cleanroom for medical device manufacture and packaging. This cleanroom type may meet stringent classification criteria while also maintaining a stable, contaminant-free environment during all stages of device manufacture.

Cleanrooms For the Pharmaceutical Industry

Pharmaceutical cleanrooms are utilized to create chemical therapies and cures that will help people live longer lives. In the creation and testing of medicines, even minor contamination can have major effects on medical research results or treatment efficiency and can even be fatal.

As a result, the pharmaceutical business is heavily regulated. The worldwide cleanroom technology market was worth USD 4.0 billion in 2020 and is predicted to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.4% between 2021 and 2028.

Pharmaceutical cleanrooms may demand varying levels of cleanliness based on the drugs, chemicals, and processes used. The minimum norm for pharmaceutical cleanrooms is ISO 7, with progressive demands of ISO 5 or above, requiring 240-600 air changes per hour and 35-70 percent ceiling coverage to maintain an environment of 100,000 0.1m particles per cubic meter.

Pharmaceutical cleanrooms are also subject to extra US Pharmacopeia, or USP Standards, restrictions. Pharmaceutical compounding facilities adhere to USP Standards 797 for sterile non-hazardous substances and USP 800 for sterile hazardous compounds.

USP standards include layout possibilities based on each standard’s ideal airflow patterns, cleanroom organization, operator practices, and sanitation levels.

Softwall cleanrooms are the logical answer due to the high level of control required in a pharmaceutical cleanroom. Cleanrooms provide a dependable structure to any medical cleanroom design, are able to maintain rigorous environmental conditions, and avoid mistakes caused by temperature, humidity, or contamination.

In Conclusion

These three types of medical cleanrooms are critical and lucrative investments for companies doing research or developing and manufacturing substances and technologies to enhance healthcare and save lives. Important work in the healthcare business necessitates the use of a high-performance medical cleanroom to protect projects and staff.