academic team develop laser technique

Scientists at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, working with teams from pharmacy supplier giant Pfizer, have created a new method for analysing capsules.

The new laser-based method allows the bulk chemical content of pharmaceutical capsules to be characterised without opening them.

It can detect active pharmaceutical ingredients with a relative error of one per cent.

Professor Mike Dunne, director of the Central Laser Facility, said this showed how science could translate into industry solutions.

“Direct collaboration between Pfizer and STFC scientists is a model for the future, allowing leading-edge techniques to be appropriately targeted to the benefit of the UK economy,” he added.

Pfizer is the world’s largest research-based pharmaceutical firm, employing around 90,000 people across the globe. It invests more than £10 million a week in research and development.

It reports that it is also the world’s biggest animal health company.