Chemists and engineers are in the process of making on-demand production of pharmaceuticals less of an idea from a movie, and potentially a viable option for situations where medicines may not be easily accessible.
Imagine taking a vacation to an isolated rainforest resort. You explored your adventurous side, hiking through the lush vegetation with a knowledgeable tour. Less than 10 minutes after arriving back at the hotel, an uncontrollable itch began on your forearms. It traveled up your arms, across your chest, and began rising up your neck. Was it from a bug or a plant you encountered during the hike? At this point, you are unconcerned about the cause, and just want a solution. The closest drug store is hours away; when booking the trip, it seemed like a great idea to pick the most isolated resort for your dream vacation. Even if the drug store was closer, it was not a guarantee that they would even have anything to help you. In the US, there were over 200 instances of drugs shortages from the years 2011-2014. There was no telling how difficult it would be to get medicine to this remote location.
You head to the front desk of the hotel, hoping they have something to give you for relief. They lead you down the hall and into a small room. There are a few chairs and an appliance that is similar in size and shape to a refrigerator. The employee enters a few commands into a keyboard and the machine starts working. In fifteen minutes, the employee hands you two tablets- diphenhydramine hydrochloride, more commonly known as Benadryl®.
Diphenhydramine, better known by the brand name Benadryl, is one of the four medications that can be synthesized by the original compact, reconfigurable pharmaceutical production system.
While this scenario is not plausible in the current day, it will be in the near future. In a 2016 Science article, researchers from around the world introduced a refrigerator-sized machine that could make four common medicines. More recently, a 2nd generation prototype was released; the new model is 25% smaller and contains enhanced features necessary for the synthesis of four additional drugs that meet US Pharmacopeia standards. This is possible by technology known as flow chemistry. Flow chemistry is a development where chemicals are pumped through tiny tubes. When two tubes merge, a reaction between the two chemicals occurs, resulting in a new molecule. Compared to traditional chemical reactions (stirring two chemicals together in a flask), flow reactions are generally safer and happen faster.
In this new machine, there are different “synthesis modules,” or small boxes that contain the equipment to do a single chemical reaction. Much like an assembly line to build a car, pharmaceutical molecules are made by starting with something very simple, and pieces are added on and manipulated until it is something useful. In the case of pharmaceuticals, the assembly line consists of molecules and reactions. The modules, or boxes, can be rearranged to do the chemical reactions in the order needed to make the desired medicine. To make a different medicine, the modules must simply be rearranged. Researchers can use the original prototype to make Benadryl, Lidocaine (local anesthetic), Valium (anti-anxiety), and Prozac (anti-depressant), using different combinations of the exact same modules. As of July 2018, the FDA reported that both diazepam (Valium) and lidocaine were currently in a shortage, due to manufacturing delays.
On demand pharmaceutical production would allow access to medicines in rural locations and war zones.
The future of this technology would allow anyone to use it. A user could simply input the medicine they want, and computers would rearrange the modules and use the correct starting chemicals, and in about 15 minutes, you could receive the desired medicine. This technology has vast applications. It could help alleviate the aforementioned drug shortages. Additionally, it could allow access to medicine in locations where it may be difficult to ship to, including rural locations or war zones, often places that need medicines most. In these places, delivery may be difficult, and some medicines go bad quickly. With this technology, it would not be necessary to store medicines that could go bad; it could simply be made as soon as it is needed. This could also prevent waste from medicines that are not used before they go out of date. These developments could revolutionize the pharmaceutical industry and I look forward to seeing the good that these technology advances can lead to.
Peer edited by Nicholas Martinez
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