HVAC Design Considerations for Pharmaceutical Preparations
Air cleanliness, space pressurization, required air changes, and equipment placement are just a few of the many important factors that must be considered
Pharmaceutical suites are subject to strict requirements regarding the air supplied to and exhausted from their preparation, storage, and distribution areas. Designing for an appropriate level of pressurization and filtration for a given pharmaceutical preparation space is imperative to ensuring the space properly protects the personnel, products, and environment from contaminants.
The strictest environmental requirements in a pharmaceutical suite are reserved for compounding rooms. Per the U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP), compounding includes the preparation, mixing, assembly, alteration, packaging, and labeling of nonhazardous drugs (NHDs) and hazardous drugs (HDs). Anterooms abut compounding rooms and are used to prevent contaminants from spreading to unwanted areas or rooms. Figure 1 depicts an example layout of compounding rooms and anterooms in a pharmaceutical suite.