Pharmaceutical Technology Europe-08-01-2012

Germany has shifted from a market where the pharmaceutical industry could enjoy considerable pricing freedom to a sensitive market influenced by cost-containment policies.

Most of the products affected by growing drug and ingredient shortages are cancer medications, anesthetics used for patients undergoing surgery, emergency medications and intravenous electrolytes.

Pharmacovigilance rules enter into effect.

Cleaning validation provides assurance that the quantity of residual substances collected from equipment surfaces are within permissible limits, helping to ensure quality control and safety in pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities. Three different cleaning validation methods for measuring the carbon in residual samples of various pharmaceutical substances were compared.

Enhancing bioavailability can be achieved through hot-melt extrusion (HME) or spray drying.

Approaches centre on ways to optimise process conditions and operability.

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Dedong Wu, senior scientist at AstraZeneca, explains how nanoparticle engineering and crystal engineering can aid solubility.