A Review on "Role of Robotics in Pharmacy''

Robots are proving advantageous in filling, inspection, packaging, laboratories, and the manufacture of personalized medicine. Automation, including automated inspection and packaging, is becoming an increasingly important part of pharmaceutical manufacturing. The many benefits of automation include efficiency, saving workers from hazardous environments or repetitive tasks, reducing training overhead, eliminating human error, increasing repeatability and reproducibility, and in cleanrooms, removing the potential for human contamination. Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly partnering with automation and robotics solutions providers to integrate these technologies into processes such as drug development, manufacturing, and anti-counterfeiting. Automation technologies can boost the speed of the manufacturing process and make it safer and efficient, while also reducing manpower cost. Clemson University and Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corporation, for example, have developed a benchtop robot that can fill, cap and seal sterile pre-filled syringes, which can reduce costs by preventing drug overfill and minimizing contamination. Filling syringes in the absence of a robot is a highly regulated process that needs to be undertaken by specialized technicians under ISO-certified clean rooms. The robot is expected to help in addressing the shortage of pre-filled syringes in hospitals and healthcare facilities. Robotic technology is being used for vial-filling applications on slower speed applications.