Whitepaper: Raman Hyperspectral Imaging – An essential tool in the pharmaceutical field

Resulting from the combination of Raman spectroscopy and optical microscopy, Raman hyperspectral imaging has proven to be an indispensable tool in the pharmaceutical field. This article will broach a number of Raman hyperspectral imaging applications that were developed in our laboratory, in order to demonstrate the significance of the technique.

In the pharmaceutical environment, and especially in the research and development field, the quality of the medicine is a critical step as it is facing challenges with increased demand from the regulatory affairs to improve the quality of a pharmaceutical drug product. In order to ensure its proper effect on the patient health, a product has to be manufactured with the appropriate quality.

Today, a lot of techniques are used in pharmaceutical laboratories to ensure the quality of a drug product. Several tests such as dissolution profiles, stability studies or control of active content are required from the pharmaceutical guidelines and authorities to ensure that the analysed product is included within pre-determined specifications. In the QC labs, most of the analytical tools are based on chemical analyses (liquid chromatography, dissolution apparatus…) which generally damage the sample, require solvent and a lot of time or important human resources.