Trends in pharmaceutical analysis and quality control by modern Raman spectroscopic techniques

The application of Raman spectroscopic methods in life science applications has entered a new era due to advances in instrumentation, miniaturization and, most importantly, increased interdisciplinary dialogue between spectroscopists and end users such as clinicians or pharmacists. Advances in laser sampling technologies, optical instruments and data analysis provide new possibilities for optical sensing and chemical imaging. Raman based technologies are being driven by these new developments, opening new applications for advanced pharmaceutical development and manufacturing. Due to, non-destructive and label free quality testing of drug formulations, Raman sensing is of particular interest for process-related aspects in bioprocessing. The trend to personalized medicine, particularly for pediatric and geriatric applications increased the number of prescriptions of individually tailored medicines manufactured in public pharmacies. This article discusses trends and updates of Raman based analytics and how Raman spectroscopic information can create value for modern pharmaceutical applications and processes. The first section reviews Raman modalities that have great potential for on-site applications in the pharmaceutical industry as well as in research and development. The second section provides an overview of innovative Raman spectroscopic devices and the many possibilities in terms of analytical capabilities and sample properties. Photonic data science has been an important driver for Raman based technologies breakthroughs in the last decade and help to standardize Raman spectral analysis, which is discussed in the third section. In the last section we discuss how to translate Raman based innovations into user-friendly on-site applications.