When high school counselors and college admissions representatives have been telling students for the last decade that they need to prepare to educate themselves for careers that are not yet known, those advisers likely could not have imagined what March and April 2020 was going to look like. In fact, very view of the people who thought that had nearly perfect vision of how the world was operating likely understood the increased role that the medical field, including pharmacists and bioengineers would be playing as the world entered this new decade. The Covid-19 pandemic has literally brought entire cities to a standstill while lab technicians examine ICN radiochemicals, radiolableing, and other scientific details. Analyzing data collected from patients who have already contracted to the disease, as well as understanding the information about people who have fought off this illness are the first steps toward helping doctors, researchers, pharmacists, and other scientists understand the path forward.
And while ICN radiochemicals and various kinds of radiolabeled compounds may only be terms that were once used in science fiction movies of the past, these kinds of technical data are part of the process of solving today’s pandemic.
Custom Radiolabeling and Clean Room Standards Play Important Roles in the Future Health of the Nation
Although politicians may argue about how much longer to shut down the economy or when to reopen the schools and universities, it is important to note that it is the scientists in the laboratories who are studying ICN radiochemicals and other factors that will eventually lead to a vaccine and different kinds of effective drug treatment.
Consider some of these facts and figures about the importance that the pharmaceutical industry has played in the nation, long before the effects of this pandemic came into play:
- Maintaining and monitoring pharmaceutical clean room humidity measurements with strict tolerances at close ranges to plus or minus 1% is now possible thanks to today’s electronic sensing devices. All of this technology will be even more important as the world awaits medical solutions to this health crisis.
- The ambient outdoor air in a typical urban area contains 35 million particles for each cubic meter in the size range 0.5 micrometer and bigger in measurement. In comparison an ISO 1 cleanroom permits no particles in that size range and just 12 particles for each cubic meter of 0.3 micrometer and smaller. Finding a way to help people navigate the outdoor settings with the use of personal proactive equipment is one of the focuses of today’s scientists.
- In 2012, a fungal meningitis outbreak in the U.S. was traced to a single pharmacy in the Northeast. By the time the source was isolated and the drug recalled, however, 48 people had died. Investigators discovered procedural shortcuts and failures in maintenance and cleaning at the pharmacy. This is one of the key reasons why every cleanroom requires a carefully controlled environment maintained with Good Manufacturing Practices to prevent these kinds of problems and outbreaks.
- A recent survey of laboratories showed that roughly 20% of them were going to replace their fume hood, and a startling 33% of those replacements were due to old age. Today, however, is a time when every scientific lab that wants to make a difference is going to have to provide documentation that they have the latest equipment and protocols.
- Approximately 810,000 people work at chemical companies in the U.S., including the pharmaceutical sector, and America is the number one largest national producer of chemical products globally. It will take all of these groups working together, however, to solve the needs of the current pandemic.
Pharmaceutical companies, drug research and development companies, biotech companies, and universities are all poised to complete the work that is necessary to overcome these latest health challenges and emergencies, but it will be the scientists for all of these entities that will analyze and research the ICN radiochemicals and chemical elements that will provide the solutions. Today’s students who are learning to take classes online from teachers who are adjusting at the same time, are the future chemists and pharmaceutical researchers who will need to work toward the future of not only this country, but the world.