The production of raw materials for medicine involves the extraction and processing of natural and synthetic compounds. Many medicines are derived from naturally occurring molecules found in plants, bacteria, and fungi, while others are synthesized in laboratories. The challenge in medicinal science is to keep up with the demand for new drugs as the discovery of naturally occurring drugs has slowed. Pharmaceutical manufacturing involves the continuous extraction of output products with a constant feed of raw materials and energy into the system. Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) are the central ingredients in drugs and are produced from raw materials with specified strength and chemical concentration. Excipients, on the other hand, are substances other than the drug that help deliver the medication to the system. The geographic concentration of pharmaceutical manufacturing plays a role in mapping critical raw materials for essential APIs to understand the risks these factors pose to the medicine supply chain.
