Apparatus for extracting pharmaceutical containers from a nest inside a tub includes an advancement line of the tubs, which stops the tubs at a rest station; a handling organ, and a pickup and transfer station. The station has a frame, with a housing for receiving and supporting a nest and rotatable about a first axis into a first operating position near the rest station and into a second operating position near the handling organ. A suction gripper collects at least a further nest containing pharmaceutical containers from a tub in the rest station and positions the further nest in the housing of a second frame stationary in the first operating position. The second frame then rotates into the second operating position for the handling organ to collect the pharmaceutical containers from the “nest.”