The Pharmaceutical Development Section (PDS) is a corps of 20 chemists, pharmacists, pharmacokineticists and technicians who make investigational agents for many of the 1,500 clinical research studies running at any given moment at the NIH's Clinical Center. It is not a drug-discovery group, but rather a team of experts who churn out custom-made pills, vaccines, intravenous drugs and capsules, and even ointments and creams, for NIH investigators when the investigational agents they need aren't available.
Twenty-first century technology and government-mandated manufacturing standards have outpaced the equipment and capacities of the group's old, 743-square-metre workspace. But, if all goes according to schedule, in early June it will move seamlessly into a new, $12-million, 1,115-square-meter drug-making facility--a warren of rooms seven years in the planning that is tailor-made for the group's purposes.
The PDS's new digs are a reservoir of state-of-the-art machinery and minus 80 ºC freezers; high-efficiency particulate-absorbing filters populate the ceiling; and highly purified watercirculates through stainless-steel pipes that cost over $1,000 per meter. There are meticulous controls on air temperature, humidity and pressure. The facility's layout and structural materials are geared to maximum cleanliness--right down to the easily-scoured, porous epoxy floors."
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