Process analytical technologies and self-optimization algorithms in automated pharmaceutical continuous manufacturing

The pharmaceutical industry is now paying increased attention to continuous manufacturing. While the revolution to continuous and automated manufacturing is deepening in most of the top pharma companies in the world, the advancement of automated pharmaceutical continuous manufacturing in China is relatively slow due to some key challenges including the lack of knowledge on the related technologies and shortage of qualified personnels. In this review, emphasis is given to two of the crucial technologies in automated pharmaceutical continuous manufacturing, i.e., process analytical technology (PAT) and self-optimizing algorithm. Research work published in recent 5 years employing advanced PAT tools and self-optimization algorithms is introduced, which represents the great progress that has been made in automated pharmaceutical continuous manufacturing.