A prototype machine the size of a kitchen refrigerator created in a lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge can produce 1,000 pills in 24 hours, a rate superior to production speed in some factories, according to NPR.
The project is being funded by the Department of Defense because the devices could potentially be inserted in military field hospitals in remote areas to help combat potential outbreaks of disease among troops.
Alan Myerson, PhD, a professor of chemical engineering at MIT and a leader of the effort, told NPR the machine could eventually become an option for any manufacturer of medicine.
"We're giving them an alternative to traditional plants and we're reducing the time it takes to manufacture a drug," he said.
To those involved in the project, the device represents a potentially monumental shift in pharmaceutical production.
Tim Jamison, PhD, a professor of chemistry at MIT and one of Dr. Myerson's partners, told NPR, "For roughly two centuries, to be honest...the way that we tend to do chemistry is in flasks and beakers and that sort of thing, and we call that batch chemistry — one batch at a time."
This one batch at a time method still applies to factory production of pharmaceuticals. The batches are just much bigger, but the process can be just as time consuming. The new device streamlines the production process.
"We had to figure out new ways to make molecules, new ways to think about making molecules, but from my perspective that has also provided us with a lot of opportunities that are very powerful," said Dr. Jamison.