Towards a mobile drugs lab

Pump out pills 24/7 and reduce wastage? Pharmaceutical companies are rolling out the red carpet for continuous manufacturing. We look at why 'flow chemistry' is about to shake up the industry. By Sven Titz (De "Horizons" no 108 mars 2016) Producing pharmaceutical agents continues to be a cumbersome process, like a relay race over hurdles. Production takes place in a long chain of individual steps. One stirrer tank after the next has to be filled, one chemical reaction started after another. Sometimes, these individual steps even take place at different sites, which means production takes even longer still. But all this could soon change.