Drug manufacturing process 'may save millions'
For many people, the medication they take each day or when they are ill can effectively help to save their lives, but the manufacture of these drugs often comes at a huge cost.
Every year, millions of pounds are lost because pills fail to be created properly first time, but new research in the UK has offered hope that these issues can be rectified.
Specialists at the University of Leeds have announced that they have developed a new process which ensures that drugs are manufactured properly each time, a discovery which may lead to more rapid distribution of medication and substantial savings for the pharmaceutical industry.
Professor Kevin Roberts, from the university's Faculty of Engineering, told private health cover holders that the simple new process involves using existing chemical reactors to ensure "right first time" drug crystal formation.
He explained that, by using self-assembled monolayers, he and a team at the facility have been able to show that crystals form into their desired product form with the correct shape and particle structure, without the usual problems of polymorphism.
"If you imagine the way that oil sits on top of water, that's similar to how the monolayer works. We've shown that we can produce a well-defined crystal structure using a self-assembled monolayer bound onto a metal substrate within a regular reactor," professor Roberts stated.
He added that one of the most satisfying things about the discovery is the simplicity of it.
"This is exciting stuff, because it's a relatively simple system, but could make a huge difference in the efficiency of drug manufacture," the expert explained.
Researchers at the facility were recently labelled as "world leading" following the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, and professor Roberts told those with affordable health insurance that the team will now assess whether the development has mass market potential.
"Because this is a really simple solution to ensuring consistent crystallisation, it has huge potential commercially. Our next steps are to make sure it's just as efficient on an industrial scale," he concluded.
By Stephen Tate
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