BD Deploys Vmax 160 Pharmacy Robot at Fairview Health Services

BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) has announced that Fairview Health Services has become the first health system in the United States to deploy the BD Vmax 160, a next-generation pharmacy automation robot designed to help health systems manage the increasing complexity of specialty therapies and refrigerated medicines in high-volume, centralized outpatient pharmacy operations.

Fairview operates one of the nation's largest health system pharmacy networks, filling an average of 20,000 prescriptions per week and providing medication access for patients across Minnesota through a network of 25 outpatient pharmacies and mail-order services. Many of the medications driving pharmacy growth today, including GLP-1s, biologics and other specialty therapies, are packaged, stored and fulfilled differently than traditional vial-based prescriptions.

Widely used across Europe, the BD Vmax introduces high-speed unit-of-use automation to the U.S. market, transforming how boxed medications are stored, tracked and fulfilled in central fill environments. Fairview's deployment builds on its broader collaboration with BD and existing investment in pharmacy automation technologies, including the BD Parata Max 2 high-speed vial filling robot.

Matt Sassone, President of BD Pharmacy Automation, stated:

"The future of pharmacy care will be shaped by health systems that can meet patients where they are, while creating more efficient and scalable models for medication access. Fairview's investment in centralized pharmacy services and intelligent automation reflects a bold vision for the future, demonstrating how health systems can transform pharmacy operations and expand access to therapies for the communities they serve."

Purpose-built for centralized fulfillment environments, the BD Vmax 160 is designed to automate labor-intensive workflows. The system helps pharmacies optimize inventory management, reduce manual dispensing activities and improve visibility into medication expiration dates, lot tracking and recall management processes.

Key features include automated inventory replenishment with BD EasyLoad, which delivers a three-second loading time per tote with 99.8 percent accuracy, automated labeling that meets requirements for all 50 states, cold-chain capability designed for 2–8°C environments, and smart expiry detection that flags expiration dates upon loading and automatically blocks expired medications from dispensing.

BD Vmax complements the company's broader portfolio of pharmacy automation technologies and the BD Incada Connected Care Platform, helping health systems automate and orchestrate pharmacy services from central pharmacy through dispensing and fulfillment.