Automated radiopharmaceutical production and quality control system

An automated radiopharmaceutical production and quality control system for automatically producing a quantity of radiopharmaceutical on an order of up to ten unit doses, said system comprising:

• a computer that receives a selection input identifying a selected radiopharmaceutical;
• a cyclotron in communication with said computer, said cyclotron to produce a radioisotope associated with said selected radiopharmaceutical, said cyclotron initiating production of the radioisotope upon receiving computer activating;
• and
• a chemical production subsystem to transfer, synthesize, and purify said radioisotope into a maximum quantity of a radiopharmaceutical on the order of up to ten unit doses using a disposable microfluidic radiopharmaceutical synthesis card;
• said disposable microfluidic radiopharmaceutical synthesis card including:
• at least one reaction vessel configured to receive a radioisotope and at least one reagent, said reaction vessel being configured to receive energy from an energy source, whereby when said radioisotope and said at least one reagent are mixed in said reaction vessel and energy is provided to said reaction vessel from said energy source, a radiopharmaceutical is synthesized;
• at least one purification component to purify said radiopharmaceutical;
• and
• a vessel adapted to receive said radiopharmaceutical following the passage of said radiopharmaceutical through said purification component;
• a draw line connected between said disposable microfluidic radiopharmaceutical synthesis card and an automated quality control system for radiopharmaceuticals, said draw line configured to extract at least one small volume of said radiopharmaceutical from said disposable microfluidic radiopharmaceutical synthesis card and to transfer said at least one small volume to said an automated quality control system for radiopharmaceuticals, said automated quality control system for radiopharmaceuticals to test the radiopharmaceutical to ensure that it is safe for injection, said an automated quality control system for radiopharmaceuticals comprising:
• a high performance liquid chromatography column and a radiation probe to measure the radioactivity of said radiopharmaceutical, said high performance liquid chromatography column to receive a first portion of the at least one small volume of said radiopharmaceutical from said draw line;
• and
• a sample line and a multi-port switching valve to receive a second portion of said at least one small volume from said draw line and to distribute sample volumes of said second portion to multiple analytical testing devices to perform various quality control tests on the radiopharmaceutical,
• wherein the multiple analytical testing devices receiving sample volumes from said multi-port switching valve are able to conduct tests on the sample volumes of radiopharmaceutical from the second portion while the first portion is passing through said high performance liquid chromatography column,
• wherein said cyclotron, said chemical production subsystem and said automated quality control system for radiopharmaceuticals are all controlled by said computer,
• wherein said cyclotron, said chemical production subsystem and said automated quality control system for radiopharmaceuticals run simultaneously in series or in parallel, and
• wherein while said chemical production subsystem is producing dose N in a series of doses, said automated quality control system for radiopharmaceuticals is analyzing dose N−1, said dose N−1 having just emerged from said chemical production subsystem and said cyclotron is simultaneously producing said radioisotope to go into dose N+1.