New technology created at a Purdue University lab could help compounding pharmacists save time and increase precision when filling prescriptions.
Start-up company Biokorf is developing a new way to manufacture pharmaceuticals.
Rodolfo Pinal, chief scientific officer at Biokorf, says drugs that patients currently get from pharmacies are manufactured through a process called uniform compound production. Pharmaceutical makers blend and compress powders to create the drugs.
But Biokorf technology replaces the mixed powders with prefabricated parts. Those parts with known specifications can be assembled by the pharmacist into a final dosage.
"Imagine you have something like Lego that you put together. Each one of those little Lego pieces performs a specific function. " Pinal says.
With this technology, doctors can design different combinations to best serve patients, instead of sticking to one-size-fits-all doses.
Pinal says drug manufacturing is still based on making identical copies, but with technological advances, patient-centric precision medicine should become mainstream.
"In a way, from drug manufacture, variability is an enemy. From the patient point of view, variability is the rule." Pinal says.
Pinal and his colleagues are now working on prefabricated drug dosages used in hormone replacement therapy, where delivering precise levels of medication is critical for efficacy.