The History of Continuous ProcessingWhy Has the Biopharmaceutical Industry Been So Late to Adopt?

摘要

Continuous and semicontinuous manufacturing systems have been used for many years in numerous sectors — including the automotive, food and beverage, oil refining, chemicals, pulp and paper, electronics, metal smelting, steel making, and waste-water treatment industries. Most of these industries are capital intensive and switched to flow manufacturing to increase productivity and flexibility; reduce cycle times, inventory, waste, and costs; and achieve enhanced product quality. Despite the capital intensive nature of drug manufacturing, the biopharmaceutical industry has lagged behind these other sectors in implementing continuous, or even semicontinuous processing.