THURSDAY, March 31, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists have created a compact machine that can churn out thousands of doses of prescription medication in a day -- putting the capabilities of a drug-manufacturing plant into a device the size of a kitchen refrigerator.

Experts said the advance could eventually allow on-the-spot drug production in special circumstances -- on the battlefield, during epidemics, after natural disasters, or in cases where a drug is needed for a rare medical condition, for instance.

The research, detailed in the April 1 issue of Science, took a new approach to producing prescription drugs -- which, right now, is often an inefficient, time-consuming process.

Chemical engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) used so-called "flow technology" to develop a compact machine that can automatically turn raw materials into a finished pharmaceutical-grade medication.

For now, the system is limited to making liquid versions of four common prescription drugs: the antidepressant fluoxetine (Prozac); diphenhydramine hydrochloride, an antihistamine that includes brand-names like Benadryl; the sedative diazepam (Valium); and lidocaine, a widely used local anesthetic.

But the researchers say that drug list can be expanded.
- See more at: https://www.clinicalresearch.com/healthday-news/2016/03/31/fridge-sized-machine-makes-prescription-drugs-on-demand#sthash.sPiJxKw8.dpuf