Going with the flow

A desktop machine allows on-demand medicine production [Also see Research Article by Adamo et al. ] Imagine it is the middle of the night. A severe snow storm has hit the region, and your 3-year-old's fever is rising. You suspect a serious infection and cannot wait until the next morning to go...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2016-04, Vol.352 (6281), p.44-45
Main Author: Martin, Rainer E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Body Weight
PERSPECTIVES
Pharmaceuticals
Pharmacology
Precision medicine
R&D
Research & development
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A desktop machine allows on-demand medicine production [Also see Research Article by Adamo et al. ] Imagine it is the middle of the night. A severe snow storm has hit the region, and your 3-year-old's fever is rising. You suspect a serious infection and cannot wait until the next morning to go to the pharmacy, yet the roads are impassable. No problem—you were recently granted access to a prototype machine no larger than a kitchen microwave that allows the user to synthesize their pharmaceutical of choice. You start up a smartphone app that has access to the family medical history and other relevant parameters, such as allergies and body weight. A few minutes later, you have consulted an emergency pediatrician through the app, inserted the relevant capsule, and pressed the start button. After a short wait, a single, personalized dose of the necessary antibiotic is ready for use. All this may sound like science fiction, but the report by Adamo et al. on page 61 of this issue ( 1 ) proves that this scenario might become reality in the not-too-distant future.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.aaf3065