Manufacturing and Development Go to School @ Purdue University's New Pharm Ed Center

Purdue University, through its research foundation, will unveil its new Chao Center later this month, a combination of pharmaceutical education with manufacturing and development.

"Purdue pharmacy students will be able to familiarize themselves with good manufacturing practices (cGMP) procedures policy as they watch these processes in a working manufacturing and development facility," said John M. Pezzuto, dean of Purdue's College of Pharmacy, Nursing and Health Sciences.

The $6.5 million 12,000-square-foot pharmaceutical manufacturing and development Chao Center for Industrial Pharmacy & Contract Manufacturing was made possible via a $5 million gift from alum Allen Chao and his wife. The center will be dedicated to assisting with the development of legacy drugs treating diseases and conditions that affect low-income patients around the world. The center will also focus on developing brands made in small volume that while less profitable, still offer treatment options for crucial infectious diseases. Graduate and undergraduate students in the Department of Industrial and Physical Pharmacy and faculty campuswide will gain experience with real-world production in a facility that meets the most stringent government standards, called good manufacturing practices.