INTRODUCTION TO PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS

    Pharmaceutical substances form the backbone of modern medicinal therapy. Most traditional pharmaceuticals are low molecular mass organic chemicals. Although some (e.g. aspirin) were originally isolated from biological sources, most are now manufactured by direct chemical synthesis. Two types of manufacturing companies thus comprise the ‘traditional’ pharmaceutical sector; the chemical synthesis plants, which manufacture the raw chemical ingredients in bulk quantities, and the finished product pharmaceutical facilities, which purchase these raw bulk ingredients, formulate them into final pharmaceutical products, and supply these products to the end-user.
    In addition to chemical-based drugs, a range of pharmaceutical substances (e.g. hormones and blood products) are produced by or extracted from biological sources. Such products may thus be described as products of biotechnology. In some instances, categorizing pharmaceuticals as products of biotechnology or chemical synthesis becomes somewhat artificial, e.g. certain semi-synthetic antibiotics are produced by chemical modification of natural antibiotics produced by fermentation technology.