Machine makes drugs on demand

A new refrigerator-sized factory can rapidly pump out a diverse assortment of drugs on demand.

Researchers designed the system to offer a speedy alternative to large-scale pharmaceutical production. Rejiggering chemical inputs and the device’s collection of tanks and tubes allowed the team to produce four different drugs: an anesthetic (lidocaine), an antihistamine (Benadryl), an antianxiety medication (Valium) and an antidepressant (Prozac). The self-contained system was equipped to mix, heat, pump and purify ingredients into hundreds or thousands of doses of pharmaceutical-grade compounds. Making each medication took roughly 12 to 48 hours, an international team of researchers reports in the April 1 Science.

For now, the device makes only liquid medications. But the work is a step toward overcoming limitations of cumbersome drug-making supply chains by developing automated tools that make medications on demand (SN: 8/22/15, p. 22).