Astellas Pharma adopts Advantest’s terahertz spectroscopic imaging system TAS7500

Advantest Corporation (TSE: 6857, NYSE: ATE) today announced that its terahertz spectroscopic imaging system TAS7500, which utilizes Advantest's THz wave technology, has been adopted by Astellas Pharma Inc.    

The TAS7500 system enables non-destructive, contact-free spectroscopic analysis and imaging of the inner structures of pharmaceutical products. The system can analyze pharmaceuticals in liquid, powder or solid form, and evaluate crystalline forms, chemical constituents, density, and other characteristics. The system can also produce 2D and 3D images of tablet coating layer thickness and density distribution, as well as cross-sections of multi-layer tablets.

Pharmaceutical firms are developing increasingly complex products, including the recent development of multi-layer tablets that deliver active ingredients more effectively. Manufacturers face a serious challenge in the speedy analysis of the crystalline forms and chemical constituents of promising pharmaceutical materials. The spectroscopic analysis and imaging functions offered by the TAS7500 enable fast, simple, high-throughput drug analysis that contributes to speedier R&D and scale-up.

Wataru Momose, Senior Researcher at Astellas's Pharmaceutical Research and Technology Labs, said, "The TAS7500 is compact and fits on a desktop. It offers a good selection of spectroscopic analysis (transmission, reflection, ATR [Attenuated Total Reflection]) and imaging functions, and has stable, high-speed measurement capabilities. At present, the most widely used PAT tools are near-infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy, but the TAS7500, based on THz wave technology, is very useful in further improving drug R&D efficiency."

Kazuhiro Sako, Ph.D., Vice President, Pharmaceutical Research and Technology Labs also expressed high hopes for the improved drug R&D efficiency offered by the TAS7500, saying, "Astellas has an increasingly important role in developing and rapidly delivering high-quality pharmaceuticals to patients. Making full use of new analytical devices like this, we aim to contribute even more to people's health around the world via highly effective and reliable pharmaceutical products."