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28 October 2014 | By Axel Becker, Scientist, Merck KGaA
Over the past decades, pharmaceutical drug development has undergone some significant changes, a prominent example for this being the emergence of biomolecular drugs (New Biological Entities, NBEs) such as antibodies and peptides. However, classical small molecule drugs (New Chemical Entities, NCEs) are far from being a dying species, and in…
5 September 2014 | By Ryan Gosselin & Nicolas Abatzoglou, Pfizer Industrial Research Chair, University of Sherbrooke / Philip Quinn, Pfizer Industrial Research Chair, University of Sherbrooke and Process Analytical Sciences Group, Pfizer Canada / Joanny Salvas & Jean-Sébastien Simard, Process Analytical Sciences Group, Pfizer Canada
Pharmaceutical product manufacturing is a conservative environment because of the obligations to abide by rigorous operation protocols aimed at insuring the highest possible product quality. A relatively recent initiativeguidance, from the U.S. FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has encouraged innovation and development of PATs (Process Analytical Technologies) for improved process…
Fraudulent misrepresentation, substitution or imitation of premium products has always been a problem for both the regulatory authorities and the pharmaceutical industry. The task of finding and preventing counterfeit products is particularly challenging1,2. Several analytical techniques are available to help characterise pharmaceutical compounds: physical profile; X-ray diffraction; infrared spectroscopy; mass…
3 July 2014 | By Brian Armstrong and Katrina Brockbank, Freeman Technology
Powders and bulk materials are widely used in industry as raw materials, intermediates and finished products. Indeed, over 60% of the value of pharmaceutical sales worldwide is accounted for by powder formulations, typically as tablet/capsule/sachet or in the form of an inhalable powder. Whilst they are used extensively, they are…
15 April 2014 | By Dennis Douroumis, Reader in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Greenwich and the Director of Centre for Innovation in Process Engineering and Research
Hot Melt Extrusion (HME) has attracted increased interest for the development of pharmaceutical dosage forms over the last decade. It is a versatile processing technology which produces extrudates in the form of solid dispersions and solid solutions. Among the various applications, HME has been adopted for the development of sustained…
15 April 2014 | By Ali Al-khattawi, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Aston University / Afzal R. Mohammed, Senior Lecturer in Pharmaceutics, Aston University
There is an ongoing debate over the use of pharmaceutical excipients in medicines for children, triggered by the increased number of formulations suitable for this target patient population. Pharmaceutical excipients can be regarded as essential / necessary enablers in formulation development. These are materials other than the ‘active pharmaceutical ingredient’…
5 March 2014 | By Freeman Technology
Powder characterisation specialists from Freeman Technology will be at PITTCON 2014 where the company is exhibiting the FT4 Powder Rheometer®...
19 February 2014 | By M. Babu Medi and Ramesh Chintala, Vaccine Drug Product Development, Merck & Co, Inc and Akhilesh Bhambhani, Novel Adjuvants, Formulation and Delivery Technologies, Merck & Co, Inc.
Excipients are an integral part of pharmaceutical products and play an important role in the formulation development of both small and large molecule pharmaceuticals. The type and extent of excipient use depends on several factors, including the type of active ingredient, route of administration, dosage form, target population and indication…
Solid Lipid Nanoparticles (SLN) and Nanostructured Lipid Carriers (NLC) are colloidal systems of interest for the delivery of poorly water-soluble drugs.
Freeman Technology and GEA Pharma Systems have conducted a study to investigate the feasibility of predicting critical quality attributes (CQA) of tablets from intermediate granule properties...
15 December 2013 | By Christos Georgakis, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and Systems Research Institute for Chemical and Biological Processes, Tufts University and Gregory M. Troup, Merck Research Laboratories, Merck & Co., Inc
Process Systems Engineering (PSE) has had a profound impact in the chemical, petroleum and petrochemical industry in the last 30 - 40 years. Even though PSE has already started to make a significant impact on the pharmaceutical industry, there are substantial additional benefits that can be derived. The purpose of…
Inspection of incoming raw materials is an essential step in the pharmaceutical industry to verify that the correct raw material which meets the quality specifications has been received. It will not only help to ensure that the final product is of best quality and minimise wasted time, material costs and…
18 April 2013 | By Pascal Furrer, Pharmacist
Active substances are rarely administered alone. For example, levothyroxine, a synthetic form of the thyroid hormone, indicated in the treatment of hypothyroidism, is administered at a very low dosage, ranging from 15 μg to 200 μg. These very small amounts of powder mean that it is not possible to manufacture…
Michael J. Valazza R.Ph., Vice President, Global Modified Release Technologies, Catalent Pharma Solutions, will be presenting on “Recent Advances in Oral Granules and Fixed Dose Tablet technologies, OptiMeltTM Solubility Enhancement Solutions, and Oral Disintegrating Tablet applications,” on Sunday, July 15th from 10:15AM -11:15AM as part of a releasing technology workshop…
13 December 2011 | By Mingshi Yang, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Copenhagen
Spray drying is a widely used technical method to produce fine particles, coarse powders, agglomerates or granulates in various industries. The characteristics of the particles produced by this method can be controlled and the particle properties can be maintained as constant throughout a continuous operation. The product from this process…
