ABSTRACT
Pharmaceutical products, including capsules, oral suspensions, and solutions, are prepared by hospital pharmacists if no commercial product is available. Identification of the raw materials is a regulatory requirement before manufacturing (compounding). Because of the standard methods used, however, this is often time-consuming and laborious in a hospital setting. This article describes the use of near infrared spectroscopy in combination with chemometric methods for discrimination of raw materials. Sixty-three pulverized powder samples were discriminated by using reference samples (identity guaranteed by supplier and confirmed by mid infrared analyses) and NIRCal cluster analyses. A routine expert application involving optimized calibrations (n=6) was developed, which allowed a rapid and nondestructive release procedure for every powder-based raw material received. This technique is superior to established identification analyses because of reduced quarantine times and cost savings.
