The Dissolution Solutions NetworkThe Resource for Pharmaceutical Scientists |
Ramblings of a Pharmaceutical Scientist or Two (or Three or...)
04-15-09
The rise of the machines.
Two days ago, I got an e-mail from a laboratory instrument. It told me that the analysis was complete. Last week I got an e-mail during lunch, updating me on its status. The same machine had texted me earlier... My Calendar calls my cell reminding me of important appointments.
I’ve gotten calls from Stability chambers, LCs and computers. What is going on here? Have we reached a point in which our machines interact with us like people? more ...
Get ready to immerse yourself in a new blended world, a place where people weave together digital and physical environments as they go about their daily lives. It's a world where the virtual and the physical are seamlessly integrated, and Cyberspace is not a place you go to but rather a layer tightly integrated into the world around us. more .... What does all this mean to the laboratory? Imagine a day when you could call you water bath on the way to work and ask it to start warming your media before you get there. Then you tell your LC to start a low flow and turn on the UV Lamp before you get there. Imagine telling the sample storage chamber to put the samples out on the bench to equilibrate to room temperature. You walk right into the lab and everything is ready for you to start.
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03-18-09
Stop that Guy...
I been wandering the halls of the FDA. Have you ever tried to find your way around here? I've found their secret laboratory, their hidden underground bunkers, and I even thought I saw the smoking man wandering the halls. From my wanderings of the halls of the FDA here's the latest news, memos I found in the trash, and gossip. I think they are close to finding me. I'll keep you informed...
Memo from the F.D.A.
In a staff memo Friday, FDA Deputy Commissioner Frank Torti outlined prohibitions on disclosure of commercial information that “can result in disciplinary sanctions and/or individual criminal liability” or could cause the FDA to be sued for damages. Concern over keeping trade secrets is routine in government. more ...
Ok who is in charge here?
President Obama has made two sterling choices to lead the embattled Food and Drug Administration. His nominees, both physicians, have the skills and experience to repair the damaged agency and restore its ability to protect American consumers...
The two nominees will face daunting problems at the F.D.A., including a shortage of scientific expertise, antiquated information technology, failures to protect the public from defective medical devices and drugs, and gaping holes in its programs to screen imported products and find the sources of food-borne illnesses...
more ...
Strong Leadership for the F.D.A.
Generic drug companies are ready to make cheaper versions of some of the biotech industry’s best sellers, including Genentech Inc.’s top three cancer-fighting drugs. The big question is: Will there be a clear regulatory path in place to approve lower-cost biogenerics? The answer could come by the end of this year. more ...
I've met some interesting people here. I always assumed that every here would be plain, boring and stiff. But everyone is so friendly to me. Hopefully I don't get kicked out to soon. Until the next time, from the FDA secret lab...
02-19-09
Pharmaceutical Company Outlook to 2013
PharmaVitae universe Rx sales are forecast to expand at a 2007-13 CAGR of 2.4%, down 7.6 percentage points from 2001-07. The underlying cause of this falling rate is the much-discussed genericization of small molecule products. However, not all sectors are equally exposed, prompting a shake-up of the industry and an increasing pursuit of cost savings to sustain operating profit growth rates.more ...
01-22-09
WEB 3.0
People ask me what I mean when I say web 3.0 is the future of technology. I remember the early days of the Internet. The blinking headlines, the scrolling banners, Lycos, CompuServe, Long rectangular ads at the top of everyone’s page. This was web 1.0. It was pure HTML coding. Most pages were coded by hand. Tools like dreamweaver and others may have been used.
Then the web changed. The Internet bubble had burst. Most people gave up on ideas of getting rich on the Internet and abandoned most but not all HTML based web pages. Coding switched to CSS, RSS, JavaScript, ASP, and XHTML. Pages became interactive. People created blogs, which allowed others to comment on their commentaries. Places like Blogger, MySpace and Facebook transformed how the Internet was used. Google allowed people to easily find lost connections. The Internet became a social place. Suddenly people were reconnecting with old high school friends, past work colleagues, and myriads of new often-unmet friends.
The first step towards a "Web 3.0" is the emergence of "The Data Web" as structured data records are published to the Web in reusable and remotely queryable formats, such as XML, RDF, Website Parse Template and microformats. Google searches that people do and suggests topics as I type. Facebook has applications that look at my profile and adjusts itself according to what it learns about me. One app looked at my profile asked me a few questions and guess that “The Breakfast Club” is my favortie movie from the Eighties. If the internet knows me well enough that it can guess my favortie movie, imagine the search engines of the future. Web 3.0 is when the machine build the networks.
As the machines buld the networks, intelligence is being built in. I experimented with artificial intelligence by developing Dawn several years ago. Dawn was well versed in dissolution and could understand dissolution type questions and answer them. Actually Dawn could answer questions on the USP, FDA, literature, movies, and even knew about some of you. Artificial intelligent operating systems are currently used by the military, no Vista does not cut it.
So what does this mean to us lab workers? As software becomes more sophicated we can only imagine what is possible. You operate dozens of LC half a world away, remotely set up by technicians, long sleeping by now. Software alerts you to increasing pressure on this column over the past few runs, adds a log to the column that it should be replaced. A power spike causes a run aborts in a distant country. You are e-mailed by the instrument computer asking if the run should be restarted, you tell the machine to start the first two systems but not the third. You check the integration done by another computer and teach it how you prefer the integration to be done. You need a lab to do some contract testing. Your machine searches for you and give you a list of potential labs to contact, then reminds you that the OQ is coming up soon for your instrument. It asks whether you are doing it or whether it should schedule the service rep.
People have accused me of looking too far ahead. I see how much computing and technology have changed in 20 years. I have to warn you, the technology is increasing at at ever accelerating pace. Get ready for the intelligent lab.
01-14-09
Wireless Anyone?
I was speaking to my Uncle the other day. I asked him what he thought of when I said a word: Wireless. He picked up his cell phone. I was thinking of a laptop connected to the internet. I asked my son. He looked at his Nintendo DS and told me a wireless gaming connection.
These days the whole world is going
So when does the instrument world go wireless? Many in the industry are fearful of security. They see a wire. They observe a connection from a detector to computer. Wireless is unseen; therefore it is mysterious and not trusted. I recently went searching for wireless Access Points (WAPs). I found that almost every spot around me is filled with overlapping radio waves announcing wireless access points. About 1 out of every 5 AP was unsecured. I connected to a network and was successful. I immediately closed the connection. (DSN does not condone hacking. This was done for informational purposes only.) I even took a Nintendo DS and was able to identify wireless networks and could even see which were unsecured. IF I can take a game sold at a toy store and find your network, who would feel safe sending data back and forth.
I can wireless update my twitter account without ever touching a computer. I text to set up a meeting. I remote into computers a half a world away. I stand in the lab and look at all the wires that connect every device. I am overwhelmed with computers everywhere. The world is going wireless. Windows 7 will make it easy to connect wirelessly. Will the lab follow the trends that the whole world is following? Only time will tell. Yes Uncle, the times are changing.
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