Pharmaceutical manufacturing typically uses batch processing at multiple locations. Disadvantages of this approach include long production times and the potential for supply chain disruptions. As a preliminary demonstration of an alternative approach, we report here the continuous-flow synthesis and formulation of active pharmaceutical ingredients in a compact, reconfigurable manufacturing platform. Continuous end-to-end synthesis in the refrigerator-sized [1.0 meter (width) x 0.7 meter (length) x 1.8 meter (height)] system produces sufficient quantities per day to supply hundreds to thousands of oral or topical liquid doses of diphenhydramine hydrochloride, lidocaine hydrochloride, diazepam, and fluoxetine hydrochloride that meet U.S. Pharmacopeia standards. Underlying this flexible plug-and-play approach are substantial enabling advances in continuous-flow synthesis, complex multistep sequence telescoping, reaction engineering equipment, and real-time formulation.

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (MIT)
• University of Melbourne, University of Puerto Rico, Singapore Institute of Technology, Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research, University of Liege, Georgia Pacific Chemicals

• API

1. API
2. diazepam
3. end to end
4. flow synthesis & formulation
5. fluoxetine
6. lidocaine
7. plug & play approach
8. Research Article