What does a physicist do in pharmaceutical industry? Can he
formulate new drug product, discover a new molecule and its activity or its
pharmacology.
The science of physics is understood to be very away from
the Pharmaceutical Science. But in the real context, Physics is found to be
most densely involved in the Pharmaceutical Science than any other field of
science. Physics can be considered as a backbone that supports Pharmaceutical
Science.
The application of physics is found in all areas of
pharmaceutical science and physical pharmacy including pre-formulation,
formulation design, and drug substance and drug product characterization. The
physical characterization of pharmaceutical solids, in the use of spectroscopy
for the study of Materials, and in all aspects of the polymorphism of drug
substances all is impossible without physics. Technically physics is involved
in pharmaceutical technology as solid state spectroscopy, X-ray powder
diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, polarizing optical microscopy,
infrared absorption/transmission (Attenuated Total Reflectance, Fourier
Transform IR) spectroscopy, UV/VIS absorption spectroscopy, Mass spectroscopy, Raman
Spectroscopy, powder flowability evaluation, determination of kinematic or
equilibrium solubility, surface tension, conductivity and fluorescence
excitation or emission spectroscopy and many more. This is what Pharmaceutical
Physics.
Pharmaceutical physics is one of the traditional research areas
in the laboratory of industrial physics. The research begun at 1980s. The
research is based on the use of the versatile equipment of the laboratory as
well as the Utility. Some of the current research projects:
- · Use of mesoporous materials in the drug delivery
- · The effect of crystallographic texture on the tablet properties
- · Development of novel moisture control system for powder containers
- · Use of electrostatic atomization in nanoparticle production
Basically, the kinematics and the techniques that determine
the effectiveness of the pharmaceutical molecule are all physics. The flow,
solubility, release, disintegration, dissolution, refractive index all focuses
on the importance of physics. We could find the dissolution of the tablet is
very perfect when the paddle is at a particular distance (25 ± 2mm) from the
tablet. This is for the requirement of the adequate force acting on the tablet
for dissolution. The use of specific shape, dimension and value shows
kinematics of physics in the Pharmaceutical Science. The science behind
analytical columns and its separation techniques, the technique of the
detection of the molecules at a particular wavelength using UV/VIS detector is
a part of the energy level calculation shown by the Bohr’s Atomic Model. The
effect of temperature on the drug materials and the drug products is just a
kind of thermodynamics.
Going to the infrastructure level of a pharmaceutical
industry, the use of pressure difference between the manufacturing room,
filling room and the corridors are results of physics. Requirements of adequate
humidity level and temperature can be taken as another example. The mixing
techniques, sterilization process, compression process for tablet are also not
away from physics.
Though the article does not answer the above questions, but
it shows the requirement of physics in the Pharmaceutical science. Not only
physics but also other fields of science come to play an important role. The
burgeoning need for scientists in the pharmaceutical industry is fueled by the
evolving nature of chemistry, biology, and physics, the applications of which
are best assisted by an understanding of the use of informatics. An education
in science starts with mathematics, nowadays, certainly joined by information
technology, and followed closely by the three key experimental sciences of
physics, chemistry, and biology. Later on, the research dimension is added,
constituting an instrument for the creation of new knowledge. The process
involved is characterized by its mostly interdisciplinary nature, resulting
from the expanding overlap between the basic scientific disciplines, a rapidly
growing complexity, and the disappearing autarchy of individual laboratories.
In the present context, none of the
fields of science is found independent from other streams. This dependency and
involvement is the only key to the improvements, modernization and development
to the advancements, adequacy, efficacy and efficiency. Therefore, for modern
university education novel curricula need to be developed that exploit the
essential unity of all sciences.
Prakash Chanda Gupta, M. Sc.
Published in PharmaTutor; 2014; 2(11); 75-76