Detectives and inventors
What appears to be a simple process is actually the result of long series of tests. This is all part of the daily routine of pharmaceutical formulation researchers, who continually develop new approaches that require creative techniques. Those who work in this field must have the skills of a detective and an inventor rolled into one. “We need to be a combination of Sherlock Holmes and Gyro Gearloose,” explains Torsten Selzer, a laboratory manager in the Pharmaceutical Formulation department at Merck.
The department, established in 1956, encompasses nine development labs and two manufacturing units in Darmstadt alone. But the pharmaceutical formulation scientists don’t just develop dosage forms for new medicines; they also produce small batches of the final products for tests in the area of preclinical and clinical development – as well as the corresponding placebos. Once a new medicine has been successfully tested and approved, the product goes from the pharmaceutical formulation stage to the production stage.
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From pills to drug targeting
The fact that galenic formulation traces its name back to an ancient Greek doctor may be misleading, since the science is a fully modern pharmacy discipline. Galen was probably chosen as the name-giver because he had developed so many pharmaceutical preparations. His practical work, on the other hand, bears little similarity to modern pharmaceutical formulation, according to Wieber, who also points out that this has to do with the separation of medical practice and pharmacy that has existed in Germany since the Middle Ages.
“The real breakthrough for pharmaceutical formulation came with industrial revolution,” says Selzer. The tablets and infusions developed during that period opened up new possibilities for administering drugs. The new drug forms were often more effective, better tolerated by the body, and easier to reproduce with the help of new manufacturing processes. The difference between the new dosage forms and hand-rolled pills was huge.
The future of pharmaceutical formulation does not really lie in the development of a specific form of presentation. Instead, pharmaceutical technology researchers are more concerned with further improving the effectiveness of medicines. There are several parameters for achieving this goal, says Selzer. For one thing, pharmaceutical substances can be released in the body with time lags at a high level of precision. An even more ambitious method is drug targeting, in which pharmaceutical formulation scientists attempt to precisely guide an active ingredient to a specific site in the body – i.e. more or less provide the medicine with the “address” where it needs to go. “That’s still a vision of the future,” says Selzer, “but we’re working on it.”
What appears to be a simple process is actually the result of long series of tests. This is all part of the daily routine of pharmaceutical formulation researchers, who continually develop new approaches that require creative techniques. Those who work in this field must have the skills of a detective and an inventor rolled into one. “We need to be a combination of Sherlock Holmes and Gyro Gearloose,” explains Torsten Selzer, a laboratory manager in the Pharmaceutical Formulation department at Merck.
The department, established in 1956, encompasses nine development labs and two manufacturing units in Darmstadt alone. But the pharmaceutical formulation scientists don’t just develop dosage forms for new medicines; they also produce small batches of the final products for tests in the area of preclinical and clinical development – as well as the corresponding placebos. Once a new medicine has been successfully tested and approved, the product goes from the pharmaceutical formulation stage to the production stage.
Galenics at Merck
Image {count} of {total}The fact that galenic formulation traces its name back to an ancient Greek doctor may be misleading, since the science is a fully modern pharmacy discipline. Galen was probably chosen as the name-giver because he had developed so many pharmaceutical preparations. His practical work, on the other hand, bears little similarity to modern pharmaceutical formulation, according to Wieber, who also points out that this has to do with the separation of medical practice and pharmacy that has existed in Germany since the Middle Ages.
“The real breakthrough for pharmaceutical formulation came with industrial revolution,” says Selzer. The tablets and infusions developed during that period opened up new possibilities for administering drugs. The new drug forms were often more effective, better tolerated by the body, and easier to reproduce with the help of new manufacturing processes. The difference between the new dosage forms and hand-rolled pills was huge.
The future of pharmaceutical formulation does not really lie in the development of a specific form of presentation. Instead, pharmaceutical technology researchers are more concerned with further improving the effectiveness of medicines. There are several parameters for achieving this goal, says Selzer. For one thing, pharmaceutical substances can be released in the body with time lags at a high level of precision. An even more ambitious method is drug targeting, in which pharmaceutical formulation scientists attempt to precisely guide an active ingredient to a specific site in the body – i.e. more or less provide the medicine with the “address” where it needs to go. “That’s still a vision of the future,” says Selzer, “but we’re working on it.”
