Imagine that a system the size of a refrigerator that could manufacture medications. This system could be placed in doctors’ offices and at hospitals. Were a shortage of a certain medication to occur (which by the way happens more often than you think) then these devices could supply enough until the shortage was over.

Scientists at MIT have indeed developed such a system called Pharmacy On Demand. God only knows how they managed to simplify complicated chemical processes to create these pill. At present four medications Lidocaine, Valium, Benadryl and Prozac can be manufactured in as little as 24 hours.

While these medications may not be as critical as some others, this is just a first step. The FDA will need to approve the process and I am sure that hospitals and doctors offices will have to have special permits to use this device.

Yet the potential is amazing. For example, if a drug such as Digoxin were experience an acute shortage, this could put many patients with heart failure or serious heart arrhythmia at risk of serious problems including death.

With Pharmacy On Demand, enough Digoxin could be manufactured to allow patients to continue to take Digoxin, until the national shortage was resolved.

Guess what these same scientists are predicting that they will be able to develop systems 40% smaller than the current version!

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