How Ultrapure Water Can Be Used in Pharmaceuticals For Improved Healthcare

25 February 2026

Toby Patrick

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Ultrapure Water (UPW) is a very important part of the pharmaceutical industry, as it has such a high purity level of around 18.2 MΩ cm resistivity, which is perfect for removing ions, organic matter, bacteria and particulate matter. All of this can reduce the quality of medication and turn it into something that can be potentially catastrophic to patients' health.

Hand holding assorted colorful pills on a bright blue background, creating a vibrant and health-focused visual.

It’s mainly used for drug manufacturing, as it can sanitise materials and equipment so everything is kept clean and away from any danger. This improves healthcare and makes it safer for patients by reducing contamination risks. It also improves the stability of therapeutic products for patients who need them to function properly.

This guide will explore how ultrapure water is used in pharmaceuticals and why it’s essential for keeping patients protected while improving their healthcare. Continue reading to learn more.

How Pharmaceutical Industries Improve Healthcare

Safety of Injectables

UPW is used to produce water for injection, the required solvent for injectable medications like vaccines for infectious diseases. These types of medications are used across the world, so it’s crucial that they’re made to be safe to use since they get injected into the skin and blood flow of patients. This ensures that they are free from endotoxins, microbes and chemical impurities that could cause sepsis or fatal adverse reactions.

Product Efficacy and Stability

When UPW is used, it can remove ionic and organic contaminants as it prevents chemical interactions that could degrade Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs). This ensures medications remain stable and effective throughout their existence to prevent wasted medication, all while ensuring patient treatment is always safe to administer.

Preventing Contamination

Small contaminants are dangerous for medications, as they can interfere with how cells grow or cause a patient's body to have a bad reaction. Those within the industry can use UPW to help scientists make sure the environment stays clean and steady so that nothing ruins the medicine. This step is crucial for keeping the treatment safe and making sure it works exactly the way it should for the person taking it.

Sterilisation of Medical Devices

The integration of UPW in the pharmaceutical industry helps to generate clean steam for autoclaving. This ensures that surgical instruments and complex medical equipment are stripped of microscopic bio-burden without the risk of chemical residue. This minimises the transmission of pathogens and significantly reduces hospital infections that can occur from using products that have been contaminated. You can improve the integrity of the medical tools and the lives of the patients they serve.

Accurate Diagnostics

When new medicines are created and tested, scientists must use UPW to ensure their experiments are perfect in order for them to function as intended. This water is so clean that it has been stripped of every impurity that could interfere with testing equipment, making sure that the whole process is carefully constructed. When researchers prepare liquid samples for analysis, even the smallest change can create fake results called ghost peaks on their digital charts. This can ruin the final product of medication, leading to adverse effects on patients.

Formulation of Sensitive Topical Products

When companies make sensitive products like face creams or eye drops, they must use UPW to ensure it’s as safe as possible. Regular water contains tiny minerals and invisible bacteria that can easily irritate your skin or cause painful infections in your eyes. Manufacturers can remove those hidden impurities so the final product is gentle and effective. This high standard of purity protects your health and helps the medicine work exactly as it should without any nasty side effects.

What Technology is Used for UPW?

Continuous Electrodeionization (CEDI)

CEDI is the leading technology for UPW production. Used by water management companies like Xylem, it can replace chemical-based ion exchange with an electrochemical process. This can help to remove any impurities, including carbon dioxide, that can ruin medication. CEDI is a continuous, low-energy-consuming process and avoids the need for chemical regenerants, perfect for cost savings.

Ultraviolet (UV)

UV light can disrupt the DNA of microorganisms to prevent them from growing any bigger, while specific UV wavelengths can break down trace organisms. It helps manufacturers get more protection when making medication, as the water can stay at a consistent quality that will support regulatory compliance.

The pharmaceutical industry couldn’t survive without UPW. It’s the necessary component needed to ensure that all medication is safe to use, as it helps to sterilise machinery used by manufacturers and prevent any contamination from occurring. Without UPW, patients will receive inadequate care, as the medication they take could harm them or give them adverse effects. It’s crucial that companies within the industry keep their patients safe at all times to avoid any legal action from being taken against them.

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Could these social media updates help your business?

Paul Francis
Apr 2, 2024
3 min read

It takes just a few minutes to create a Social Media profile. One of the questions you’ll commonly be asked is your date of birth.

Few people are still not on social media in 2024—maybe even those who’ve previously abstained joined up during lockdown, given the limited avenues we all had for some escapism.

Age restrictions

To be a Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, or Twitter user, you must be 13 years old. Given, however, that these platforms (particularly Snapchat and TikTok) are aimed at younger people, there are likely individuals younger than 13 with a profile—no checks are made when signing up that the date of birth entered is valid.

Maybe all these social media platforms are aware of this, but because of the ‘pester power’ of children, they are happy to turn a blind eye in return for healthy advertising returns. I certainly can’t believe that they don’t know at all.

A recent update from Instagram, perhaps to try and combat this situation, is to offer users the opportunity to make their post/content age-restricted. If there is content in your post that’s not suitable for children, you will have the option when creating your post to signify the minimum age limit of its audience. Instagram will then only show users above this age the content in question.

The thing is, if a 10-year-old says they’re 20 when creating their profile, this doesn’t stop them from seeing a post rated 18+. This could only truly work if youngsters were honest about their age from the off.

Certain posts were already age-restricted on Instagram; content promoting alcohol, non-prescription drugs, and financial advice is only shown to profiles purportedly belonging to adults.

For businesses, the benefit of this update is that it acts as an extra filter. Some products can be age-specific and eliminating the portion of the public who won’t be interested in what you sell helps with targeting. It’s a benefit that comes at no cost, which is always positive.

Facebook groups

On a different note, and not so much an update in programming, but an update in usage. Facebook has reported that the number of people using its groups during the pandemic grew exponentially.

Perhaps given that we were all restricted from interacting with friends and family offline during lockdown, digital communications came into its own. Though it’s recognised as a poor replacement for seeing people in person, it proved a lifesaver for families when they were cut off from each other.

Maybe we had more time during lockdown to explore the groups on offer. Maybe local groups were the source of vital information during the pandemic, which caused more people to join. Maybe we were more interested in hearing what the general public had to say about coronavirus or local restrictions than just what came from the mouth of politicians and scientists.

Societies and clubs who would usually meet offline were forced to go digital, to continue their hobby or pastime in some form; this also contributed to increased activity within Facebook groups.

Facebook has changed how it describes its online groups; rather than separate clusters of people, the platform sees groups as ‘digital communities’.

Facebook’s own stats show that an incredible 91% of users surveyed gave some sort of support to others during lockdown via a group. We’re no longer a generation that leans over garden walls to pass on the local news to a neighbour. Neither are we a generation who gets local information from a newspaper or magazine. Increasingly, news and information today come from a digital source, of which online groups are one.

Groups are useful, in that they’re largely monitored. Upon creation, admins and/or moderators are assigned and there is the option that every post has to be approved before the group is allowed to see it. This reduces trolling and controls spam, two things that put people off from interacting in online groups.

A new Facebook feature is the introduction of sponsored posts specifically for the eyes of online groups; this is great for businesses and advertisers, as groups forming around a hobby, for example, are sitting ducks if you have a product related to that hobby.

Any new update takes time for people to understand it and react. Be one of the first to capitalise on the increased activity within groups and snap up the opportunity to advertise to them.

What are your thoughts?