WASHINGTON — Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said so-called continuous manufacturing would prevent drug shortages, lower drug prices, and bring manufacturing back to the United States. Lawmakers have doled out millions to encourage it. There are predictions it could throw gasoline on the quest for flu treatments and now, potentially, coronavirus therapies.
So why aren’t most drug makers fully bought in?
Continuous manufacturing is a new way of designing a drug assembly line that allows pharmaceutical companies to take raw materials and pop out a tablet without all the fits and starts associated with typical drug making. It can cut weeks, if not months, off of drug production, all while saving drug makers millions.
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