NIR spectroscopy: a 21 CFR Part 11 compliant tool for QC and product screening
Mar 7, 2022
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Pharmacology: a brief history
Our search for medicines is nearly as old as humanity itself. Medicinal ingredients from plant, mineral, and animal sources were used for healing purposes since the earliest of advanced civilizations. Herbal remedies from China date back to a couple of thousand years ago, while indigenous populations have been relying on environmental sources for healing for several millennia. Systematic descriptions of medicines have been handed down to us from the ancient Greeks and the Roman Empire, laying a foundation for contemporary pharmacology. It was not until the 16th century that the science began its departure from the models passed down from antiquity.
The path to developing synthetic drugs began with the emergence of organic chemistry at the beginning of the 19th century. Although drug therapies had been limited to naturally occurring substances and inorganic compounds up to that point, this changed with the targeted production of organic synthetic drugs based on substances isolated from medicinal plants. Within a very short period, this led to a vast number of synthesized active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Researchers had finally come to understand the relationship linking the action of these substances to their chemical structures.
Pharmaceutical analysis provides information about the identity, purity, content, and stability of starting materials, excipients, and APIs. Medicinal products come in various forms (e.g., ointments, tinctures, pills, lotions, suppositories, infusions, sprays, etc.) and consist of the active substance and at least one pharmaceutical excipient. Impurities are mainly introduced during the synthesis of the active ingredients.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), specifications and test methods for commonly used active ingredients and excipients are outlined in detail in monographs contained in the national pharmacopoeias of more than 38 countries. The pharmacopoeias are official compendia containing statutory requirements pertaining to identity, content, quality, purity, packaging, storage, and labeling of active pharmaceutical ingredients and other products used for therapeutic purposes. They are essential for anyone seeking to produce, test, or market medicinal products.
