Ion exchange resins are widely used in drug extraction. The refining and purification of drugs is to convert the effective components in the drug solution into ionic form, exchange with the resin, adsorb the effective components, convert the effective components into salt using the principle of acid-base salt formation, and then elute, elute the low concentration effective components in the drug extract after being adsorbed by the ion exchange resin, improve the content of the effective components, and achieve the goal of drug refining and purification. Its application mainly focuses on antibiotics, such as the extraction, decolorization, refining and desalination of streptomycin, the extraction and decolorization of gentamicin, the extraction and decolorization of neomycin sulfate, the extraction of kanamycin, the decolorization of oxytetracycline, the extraction and desalination of colistin sulfate. These processes all use a large number of ion exchange resins.

Weak acid cation exchange resin is mainly used for drug extraction, strong base anion exchange resin is mainly used for drug decolorization, and high crosslinking strong acid cation exchange resin is used for drug desalination.