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Article: Achieve the right balance in pharmaceutical pilot plants
- Article from:
- Chemical Engineering Progress
- Article date:
- February 1, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright American Institute of Chemical Engineers Feb 1998. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Such pilot plants are used not only for scale-up but also to supply product for trials. Properly balancing these demands is key to shortening pharmaceuticaldevelopment cycle times.
After a promising pharmaceutical chemical having therapeutic effects is discovered, it has to be tested in animals and humans for safety and efficacy as a drug. During the various stages of development of the drug, this testing can require from a few kilos to a few tons of the material. Usually, a pharmaceutical company has three alternative sources for such developmental quantities of a material: a pilot plant, its own manufacturing plant, or the facility of a contract manufacturer. Assuming that safety or ...