BIOANALYTICAL AUTOMATION - HISTORY AND FUTURE-PLANS

Bioanalysis is determining the concentration of drugs and metabolites in biological fluids (i.e. plasma and urine). During the past 15 years tremendous advances in bioanalysis, for example HPLC, auto injectors, data collection systems and robotics has enabled the productivity of the bioanalyst to increase but it still requires considerable manual intervention. This paper describes the rationale, the justification and the plans Bristol-Myers Squibb has to completely automate the entire bioanalytical process.