Important Pharmaceutical Lab Equipment
Pharmaceutical labs have played a big role in the health and wellness of society, and they continue to prove their importance year after year. That said, the lab technicians can only research and innovate as much as their equipment allows. If you’re aspiring to become a pharmaceutical lab technician, or you manage a lab, make sure your team has access to the most important pharmaceutical lab equipment. Continue reading to learn what that equipment includes.
Autoclave
There’s no better piece of equipment for sterilization in the pharmaceutical industry than the autoclave. Every pharmaceutical lab should have at least one in their facility. Autoclaves will adjust the temperature and pressure of different materials, which allows labs to reuse equipment and avoid causing excessive waste with single-use items.
Batch reactor
While there are several pieces of equipment that help lab technicians perform research and development, a batch reactor is often non-negotiable. Batch reactors allow the lab techs to control the conditions within the vessel to analyze small batches of potential pharmaceutical drugs. That said, a lot of prior analysis goes into any medication before reaching the batch reactor.
Analytical instruments
Between chromatography, mass spectrometers, and more, there are several different complex pieces of lab equipment that every pharmaceutical lab will have. Lab technicians regularly use chromatography in the pharmaceutical industry for analyzing mixtures that could lead to a new or improved medicine. That said, there are several different chromatography methods such as gas, liquid, and high-performance liquid, and many pharmaceutical labs use each of them or a combination during research.
Capsule sealer
Many modern medicines come in a capsule form, so many pharmaceutical labs have a capsule sealer to finalize their product. Plus, to adequately test and analyze the final product, labs will test exactly what the customer would receive. Without a capsule sealer, pharmaceutical lab techs would never be able to adequately test medicine.
In general, you’ll find much more equipment in a pharmaceutical lab—we merely highlighted the most important pharmaceutical lab equipment. Plus, each pharmaceutical lab is different, since some specialize in particular aspects of medicine, which can significantly influence their equipment arsenal.