The manufacture of pharma-ceuticals could be made cheaper with a new system that monitors the crystallisation of chemical compounds used for drugs. The process analytical technology (PAT) tool includes a probe, which collects images of the crystallisation process inside a pharmaceutical reactor, and soft ware to determine the size and shape of the drug compound crystals. The information gathered can give indications on the purity and quality of the product. The feeling is that if we go to a culture of full process understanding we will get cheaper products,' said Prof Kevin Roberts of Leeds University's Institutes of Process Research and Development and Particle Science and Engineering. His research team worked with industrial scientists at Perdix Technologies in the Netherlands to develop and commercialise the probe, which they combined with Morphologi, commercially available image analysis software developed by the UK's Malvern Instruments.
展开▼
