The Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) Analysis of the Establishment of the University of the Philippines Pharmaceutical Science Service Laboratory (UPPSSL) delves into the critical role of pharmaceutical research and service laboratories in advancing drug development, ensuring patient safety, and fostering healthcare innovation. Through a meticulous examination encompassing a literature review, SWOT analysis and Key Informant Interviews (KII), this study evaluates the internal strengths and weaknesses of proposed services such as Product Development, Pharmacokinetic Studies, Therapeutic Drug Monitoring, and Biowaiver Studies. By aligning these services with market demands and regulatory standards, the UPPSSL aims to become a pivotal player in the pharmaceutical research landscape. The validation process through KII ensures that strategic decisions are informed by stakeholder perspectives, enhancing the laboratory's operational efficiency and contribution to the industry.

Following the release of the Technical Requirements on Quality Control and Standard Establishment of Traditional Chinese Medicine Formula Granules by the National Medical Products Administration in 2021, Chinese Pharmacopoeia Commission has promulgated 296 national drug standards so far, and most provinces have started the work of establishing provincial standards as supplements. The promulgation of standards fostered high-quality development of the industry. Since the implementation of national and provincial standards for more than three years, enterprises have gained deep understanding and hands-on experiences on the characteristics, technical requirements, production process, and quality control of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) formula granules. Meanwhile, challenges have emerged restricting the high-quality development of this industry, including how to formulate quality control strategies for medicinal materials and decoction pieces, how to reduce manufacturing costs, and how to improve the pass rate and product stability under high standards. Based on the work experiences from standard management and process research, this article analyzed the distribution of sources, processing methods, dry extract rate ranges, process requirements for volatile oil-containing decoction pieces, control measures of safety indices, characteristics and trends of setting characteristic chromatograms or fingerprints, characteristics and trends of setting content ranges, and main differences between national standards and provincial standards. On the one hand, this article aims to present main characteristics for deeply understanding different indicators in standards and provide basic ideas for establishing quality and process control systems. On the other hand, from the perspective of industrial practice, suggestions are put forward on the important aspects that need to be focused on in the quality and process control of TCM formula granules.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry* ; Quality Control ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional/standards* ; China ; Drug Industry/standards*

With the growing awareness of public health, the value and importance of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) resources have become increasingly prominent. Despite the undeniable significance of TCM in medical treatment and healthcare, the protection, development, and utilization of TCM resources still face numerous challenges. Under the traditional model, the development and utilization of TCM resources heavily rely on manual labor and empirical decision-making, which not only leads to inefficiencies and high costs but also causes serious issues such as unstable drug quality and imbalances in market supply and demand. In the current era of rapid advancements in artificial intelligence(AI) and technology, AI has emerged as a new engine to address many challenges and difficulties throughout the entire TCM resource industry chain. By leveraging AI technology, intelligent management, precise production, and optimized utilization of TCM resources can be achieved, thereby improving efficiency, reducing costs, ensuring stable quality, and balancing market supply and demand. This article primarily explores the application of AI technology in the entire TCM resource industry chain from different perspectives and provides an in-depth analysis of the future development of AI in the TCM industry. It holds significant importance and value in promoting the intelligent development of the TCM sector and facilitating the healthy development of the entire TCM resource industry chain.
Artificial Intelligence ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional/economics* ; Humans ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/economics* ; Drug Industry

The research and development of new traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) drugs has entered a phase integrating high-quality development with resource assurance. Drawing from 18 new TCM drug registration resource assessment projects, this study systematically summarizes three core challenges in TCM resource management:(1) industrial chain complexity amplifies quantity-quality risks through material heterogeneity(multi-origin variations and wild-to-cultivated genetic shifts) and production chain coupling(germplasm-cultivation-processing whole-chain volatility);(2) structural misalignment among institutions, enterprises, and producers leads to disattachment of research and development from industrial demand;(3) technical barriers exist in quality control systems, involving producing area shift, cultivation evolution, and harvesting and processing innovations. This study proposes a four-dimensional assessment framework prioritizing "species stabilization, quantity availability, quality control, and quality optimization", which is supported by an early-warning system addressing multi-origin selection, adulterant control, endangered species protection, and standardized cultivation. Risk management strategies emphasize supply chain traceability, particularly for imported and ethnic medicinal materials. Using Epimedii Folium as a case study, this study demonstrates a tripartite industrial upgrade paradigm integrating premium germplasm, cultivation technology, and quality control, ultimately establishing an innovation mechanism with deep academia-industry collaboration. The research advocates transforming resource assessment from compliance checks to strategic decision-making tools through enhanced academia-industry collaboration, so as to provide resource assurance for high-quality TCM development.
Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Quality Control ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/economics* ; Humans ; Drug Industry ; Symbiosis

As a new type of high-risk packaging container, prefilled syringes are more widely used, and concerns regarding their effectiveness, stability and safety in clinical use have become prominent increasingly. However, the leachable substances from prefilled syringes may cause harm to humans in different degrees. Therefore, this paper reviews the research progress of leachable substances in prefilled syringes, which is not only of great significance for the quality control of prefilled syringe products, but also contributes to the healthy development of the industry.
Syringes ; Drug Packaging ; Quality Control

At present, China's traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) industry is developing rapidly with the support of modern science and technology. While promoting economic development and improving national health, it has brought multiple environmental problems. Under the "dual carbon" goals, the ecological fine manufacturing of TCM may become one of the breakthroughs for the TCM industry to practice low-carbon economy. From the perspective of low-carbon economy and considering the current situation of TCM pharmaceutical manufacturing, this paper analyzes the problems and shortcomings of the TCM pharmaceutical industry. In view of the key factors influencing the quality of TCM preparations under the ecological fine manufacturing mode, this paper proposes a practical and feasible selection plan for the ecological fine manufacturing mode of TCM, aiming to provide research ideas and a theoretical basis for the TCM industry in helping to achieve the goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal/economics* ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Carbon/analysis* ; China ; Drug Industry/economics*

In recent years, continuous manufacturing technology has attracted considerable attention in the pharmaceutical industry. This technology is highly sought after for its significant advantages in cost reduction, increased efficiency, and improved productivity, making it a growing trend in the future of the pharmaceutical industry. Compared to traditional batch production methods, continuous manufacturing technology features real-time control and environmentally friendly intelligence, enabling pharmaceutical companies to produce drugs more efficiently. However, the adoption of continuous manufacturing technology has been slow in the field of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) pharmaceuticals. On the one hand, there is insufficient research on continuous manufacturing equipment and technology that align with the characteristics of TCM preparations. On the other hand, the scarcity of talent with diverse expertise hampers its development. Therefore, in order to promote the modernization and upgrading of the TCM pharmaceutical industry, this article combined the current development status of the TCM industry to outline the development status and regulatory requirements of continuous manufacturing technology. At the same time, it analyzed the problems with existing TCM manufacturing models and explored the prospects and challenges of applying continuous manufacturing technology in the field of TCM pharmaceuticals. The analysis focused on continuous manufacturing control strategies, technical tools, and pharmaceutical equipment, aiming to provide targeted recommendations to drive the development of the TCM pharmaceutical industry.
Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Quality Control ; Drug Industry ; Technology, Pharmaceutical/methods* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Pharmaceutical Preparations

Owing to the advancement in pharmaceutical technology, traditional Chinese medicine industry has seen rapid development. Preferring conventional manufacturing mode, pharmaceutical enterprises of traditional Chinese medicine have no effective process detection tools and process control methods. As a result, the quality of the final products mainly depends on testing and the quality is inconsistent in the same batch. Process analytical technology(PAT) for traditional Chinese medicine manufacturing, as one of the key advanced manufacturing techniques, can break through the bottleneck in quality control of medicine manufacturing, thus improving the production efficiency and product quality and reducing the material and energy consumption. It is applicable to the process control and real-time release of advanced manufacturing modes such as intelligent manufacturing and continuous manufacturing. This paper summarized the general idea of PAT for traditional Chinese medicine manufacturing. Through the analysis of the characteristics and status quo of the technology, we summed up the methodology for the continuous application and improvement of PAT during the whole life-cycle of traditional Chinese medicine. The five key procedures(process understanding, process detection, process modeling, process control, and continuous improvement) were summarized, and the application was reviewed. Finally, we proposed suggestions for the technical and regulatory challenges in implementing PAT in traditional Chinese medicine industry. This paper aims to provide a reference for development and application of PAT in advanced manufacturing, intelligent manufacturing, and continuous manufacturing of traditional Chinese medicine industry.
Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Technology, Pharmaceutical ; Drug Industry ; Quality Control

In the digital transformation of Chinese pharmaceutical industry, how to efficiently govern and analyze industrial data and excavate the valuable information contained therein to guide the production of drug products has always been a research hotspot and application difficulty. Generally, the Chinese pharmaceutical technique is relatively extensive, and the consistency of drug quality needs to be improved. To address this problem, we proposed an optimization method combining advanced calculation tools(e.g., Bayesian network, convolutional neural network, and Pareto multi-objective optimization algorithm) with lean six sigma tools(e.g., Shewhart control chart and process performance index) to dig deeply into historical industrial data and guide the continuous improvement of pharmaceutical processes. Further, we employed this strategy to optimize the manufacturing process of sporoderm-removal Ganoderma lucidum spore powder. After optimization, we preliminarily obtained the possible interval combination of critical parameters to ensure the P_(pk) values of the critical quality properties including moisture, fineness, crude polysaccharide, and total triterpenes of the sporoderm-removal G. lucidum spore powder to be no less than 1.33. The results indicate that the proposed strategy has an industrial application value.
Bayes Theorem ; Data Mining ; Drug Industry ; Powders ; Reishi ; Spores, Fungal

Focusing on the development and quality improvement strategy of the traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) industry, the scientific and technological innovation of the new engineering of TCM should be paid attention to solve the "stuck neck" dilemma. Under the background of the ecological and industrial revolution of the scientific and technological innovation system, the super-scale information interaction and multi-dimensional integration will inevitably lead to profound changes in the manufacturing mode of TCM. Manufacturing measurement of TCM is formed on the basis of the reliability engineering theory of process control of TCM production. It is the development extension of system theory and system science ideas and a cross-fertilization discipline that combines theory with practice and adheres to the "four-oriented" re-epistemology improvement of the TCM discipline. In response to the problems of complex raw material sources, coarse process technology, unclear material basis, and poor applicability of equipment and technology in the manufacture of TCM, the transformation research mode of "aiming at the integration of pharmaceutical industry-developing intelligent production line-enabling industrial transformation" has been developed. This paper proposed the four key engineering technical problems, i.e., the identification of critical quality attributes(CQA) in the manufacture of TCM, the quality by design(QbD) and product development of the manufacturing process of TCM, the quality transfer principle and multivariate process capability index of TCM manufacturing, and the development of measurement technology and equipment of the manufacturing measurement of TCM, to achieve the systematization of quality control indicators, real-time process control, digitalization of manufacturing process, transparency of quality transfer, and intelligent whole-process control. In this paper, the new concepts, new theories, and new technologies provide a reference for the industrialization of TCM.
Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Reproducibility of Results ; Commerce ; Drug Industry ; Quality Control