Control oriented modeling of twin-screw granulation in the ConsiGmaTM-25 production plant

09 Jul 2024 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Johannes Khinast, Martin Horn, Jakob Rehrl, Selma Celikovic, Johannes Poms

ConsiGmaTM-25 is a continuous production plant integrating a twin-screw granulation, fluid bed drying, granule conditioning, and a tableting unit. The particle size distribution (PSD), active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) content, and liquid content of wet granules after twin-screw...

Automated and continuous synthesis of drug substances

24 Apr 2024 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Sacher, Stephan, Castillo, Ismael, Rehrl, Jakob, Sagmeister, Peter, Lebl, René, Kruisz, Julia, Celikovic, Selma, Sipek, Martin, Williams, Jason D., Kirschneck, Dirk, Kappe, C. Oliver, Horn, Martin

A continuous synthesis line was developed integrating different common reaction steps namely nitration, substitution and hydrogenation. Mesalazine as model drug substance was produced from 2-chlorobenzoic acid in continuous flow mode. A multi-instrument PAT strategy was implemented to equip the...

Videometric mass flow control: A new method for real-time measurement and feedback control of powder micro-feeding based on image analysis

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Madarasz, L, Kote, AGyurkes, M, Farkas, A, Hambalko, B, Pataki, H, Fulop, G, Marosi, G, Lengyel, L, Casian, T, Csorba, K, Nagy, ZK

The present paper reports the first monitoring and control of ultra-low dose powder feeding using a camera image-based mass flow measurement system. Caffeine was fed via a single-screw microfeeder as a model active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). The mass, mass flow and sizes of the particles...

Using Residence Time Distributions (RTDs) to Address the Traceability of Raw Materials in Continuous Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Engisch, William, Muzzio, Fernando

Continuous processing in pharmaceutical manufacturing is a relatively new approach that has generated significant attention. While it has been used for decades in other industries, showing significant advantages, the pharmaceutical industry has been slow in its adoption of continuous processing,...

The Future of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Sciences

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Rantanen, Jukka, Khinast Johannes

The entire pharmaceutical sector is in an urgent need of both innovative technological solutions and fundamental scientific work, enabling the production of highly engineered drug products. Commercial-scale manufacturing of complex drug delivery systems (DDSs) using the existing technologies is...

Roller compaction: Infrared thermography as a PAT for monitoring powder flow from feeding to compaction zone

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Yu, Mingzhe, Omar, Chalak, Weidemann, Marcus, Schmidt, Alexander, Litster, James D., Salman, Agba D.

Roller compaction is a continuous dry granulation process, in which powder is compressed by two counter-rotating rollers. During this process, the powder feeding to the compaction zone has a significant effect on product quality. This work investigates the flow of powder from the feeding zone to...

Real-time feedback control of twin-screw wet granulation based on image analysis

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Madarasz, Lajos, Hoffer, Istvan, Szabo, Barnabas, Csontos, Istvan, Pataki, Hajnalka, Demuth, Balazs, Szabo, Bence, Csorba, Kristof, Nagy, Zsombor Kristof, Marosi, Gyorgy

The present paper reports the first dynamic image analysis-based feedback control of continuous twin-screw wet granulation process. Granulation of the blend of lactose and starch was selected as a model process. The size and size distribution of the obtained particles were successfully monitored...

Real-Time Monitoring of Powder Mass Flowrates for Plant-Wide Control of a Continuous Direct Compaction Tablet Manufacturing Process

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Huang, Yan-Shu, Medina-González, Sergio Straiton, Benjamin Keller, Joshua, Marashdeh, Qussai, Gonzalez, Marcial, Nagy, Zoltan, Reklaitis, Gintaras V.

While measurement and monitoring of powder/particulate mass flow rate are not essential to the execution of traditional batch pharmaceutical tablet manufacturing, in continuous operation, it is an important additional critical process parameter. It has a key role both in establishing that the...

Real-time process monitoring in a semi-continuous fluid-bed dryer - microwave resonance technology versus near-infrared spectroscopy

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Peters, Johanna, Teske, Andreas, Taute, Wolfgang, Döscher, Claas, Höft, Michael, Knöchel, Reinhard, Breitkreutz, Jörg

The trend towards continuous manufacturing in the pharmaceutical industry is associated with an increasing demand for advanced control strategies. It is a mandatory requirement to obtain reliable real-time information on critical quality attributes (CQA) during every process step as the decision...

Raman Spectroscopy for Monitoring the Continuous Crystallization of Carbamazepine

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Acevedo, D, Mohammad, Adil, Pavurala, Naresh, Wu, Wei-Lee, O'Connor, Thomas F., Nagy, Zoltan K, Yang, Xiaochuan, Cruz, CN

Crystallization has a significant impact on the properties of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) since it is the final step in the manufacturing of the drug substance and determines particle size distribution, purity, shape, and polymorphs. Many publications have focused on the...

Process analytical technology in continuous manufacturing of a commercial pharmaceutical product

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Vargas, Jenny, Nielsen, Sarah, Cárdenas, Vanessa, Gonzalez, Anthony, Aymat, Efrain, Almodovar, Elvin, Classe, Gustavo, Colón, Yleana, Sanchez, Eric, Romañach, Rodolfo

The implementation of process analytical technology and continuous manufacturing at an FDA approved commercial manufacturing site is described. In this direct compaction process the blends produced were monitored with a Near Infrared (NIR) spectroscopic calibration model developed with partial...

PAT for pharmaceutical manufacturing process involving solid dosages forms

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Román-Ospino, Andrés D, Cárdenas, Vanessa Ortega-Zuñiga, Carlos, Singh, Ravendra

This chapter summarizes important considerations to develop multivariate methods for pharmaceuticals process monitoring and quality control in solid dosages forms based on spectroscopic techniques. The stages described in each section aimed to explain relevant knowledge of the calibration...

PAT Implementation on a Mobile Continuous Pharmaceutical Manufacturing System: Real-Time Process Monitoring with In-Line FTIR and Raman Spectroscopy

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Miyai, Yuma, Formosa, Anna, Armstrong, Cameron, Marquardt, Brian, Rogers, Luke, Roper, Thomas

The strategies and experimental methods for implementation of process analytical technology (PAT) on the mobile pharmaceutical manufacturing system, Pharmacy on Demand (PoD), are discussed. With multiple processes to be monitored on the PoD end-to-end continuous manufacturing process, PAT and its...

Near infrared spectroscopic calibration models for real time monitoring of powder density

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Román-Ospino, Andrés, Singh, Ravendra, Ierapetritoua, Marianthi, Ramachandrana, Rohit, Mendez, Rafael, Ortega-Zuñiga, Carlos, Muzzio, Fernando, Romañach, Rodolfo

Near infrared spectroscopic (NIRS) calibration models for real time prediction of powder density (tap, bulk and consolidated) were developed for a pharmaceutical formulation. Powder density is a critical property in the manufacturing of solid oral dosages, related to critical quality attributes...

Near-infrared spectroscopic applications in pharmaceutical particle technology

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Razuc, M, Grafia, AGallo, L, Ramirez-Rigo, MV, Romanach, RJ

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is nowadays an established analytical technique in the pharmaceutical industry. The aim of this review is to present the progress of NIRS in providing useful information for pharmaceutical particle technology. NIR methods are now developed to characterize a wide...

Method transfer of a near-infrared spectroscopic method for blend uniformity in a poorly flowing and hygroscopic blend

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Alvarado-Hernández, Bárbara, Scicolone, James, Ortega-Zuñiga, Carlos, Román-Ospino, Andrés, Colón-Lugo, Yleana, Aymat, Efrain, Sánchez, Eric, Muzzio, Fernando, Romañach, Rodolfo

The challenges in transferring and executing a near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopic method for croscarmellose (disintegrant) in binary blends for a continuous manufacturing (CM) process are presented. This work demonstrates the development of a NIR calibration model and its use to determine the...

Inline monitoring and a PAT strategy for pharmaceutical hot-melt extrusion

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Wahl, PR, Treffer, DMohr, S, Roblegg, E, Koscher, G, Khinast, JG

Implementation of continuous manufacturing in the pharmaceutical industry requires tight process control. This study focuses on a PAT strategy for hot melt extrusion of vegetable calcium stearate (CaSt) as matrix carrier and paracetamol as active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). The extrusion was...

In-line particle size measurement based on image analysis in a fully continuous granule manufacturing line for rapid process understanding and development

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Madarász, Lajos, Köte, Ákos, Hambalkó, Bence, Csorba, Kristóf, Kovács, Viktor, Lengyel, László, Marosi, Györgya, Farkas, Attilaa, Nagy, Zsombor Kristóf, Domokos, András

The present paper serves as a demonstration how an in-line PAT tool can be used for rapid and efficient process development in a fully continuous powder to granule line consisting of an interconnected twin-screw wet granulator, vibrational fluid bed dryer, and a regranulating mill. A new method...

In-line Raman spectroscopic monitoring and feedback control of a continuous twin-screw pharmaceutical powder blending and tableting process

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Nagy, Brigitta, Farkas, Attila, Gyurkes, Martin, Komaromy-Hiller, Szofia, Demuth, Balazs, Szabo, Bence, Nusser, David, Borbas, Eniko, Marosi, Gyorgy, Nagy, Zsombor Kristof

The integration of Process Analytical Technology (PAT) initiative into the continuous production of pharmaceuticals is indispensable for reliable production. The present paper reports the implementation of in-line Raman spectroscopy in a continuous blending and tableting process of a...

In-line UV-Vis Spectroscopy as a Fast-Working Process Analytical Technology (PAT) during Early Phase Product Development Using Hot Melt Extrusion (HME)

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Schlindwein, Walkiria, Bezerra, Mariana, Almeida, Juan, Berghaus, Andreas, Owen, Martin, Muirhead, Gordon

This paper displays the potential of an in-line PAT system for early phase product development during pharmaceutical continuous manufacturing following a Quality by Design (QbD) framework. Hot melt extrusion (HME) is used as continuous manufacturing process and UV–Vis spectroscopy as an in-line...

How to measure coating thickness of tablets: Method comparison of optical coherence tomography, near-infrared spectroscopy and weight-, height- and diameter gain

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Wahl, P. R., Peter, A., Wolfgang, M., Khinast, J. G.

Film coating of pharmaceutical dosage forms, such as tablets and pellets, can be used to tailor the drug release profile. With that regard, a uniform coating thickness of a single tablet (intra-tablet), all tablets (inter-tablet) and subsequent batches (inter-batch) is crucial. We present a...

Hot melt extrusion technology for continuous manufacturing

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Furqan Tahir, Lovett. David

Hot melt extrusion (HME), a manufacturing technique traditionally used in the plastic and food industries, is now attracting significant interest from the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector. This is primarily because HME enables the continuous manufacture of a wide variety of dosage...

Feed frame: The last processing step before the tablet compaction in pharmaceutical manufacturing

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Sierra-Vega, Nobel, Romañach, Rodolfo J., Méndez, Rafael

The feed frame is a force-feeding device used in the die filling process. The die filling process is crucial within pharmaceutical manufacturing to guarantee the critical quality attributes of the tablets. In recent years, interest in this unit has increased because it can affect the properties...

Evaluation of an in-line NIR spectroscopic method for the determination of the residence time in a tablet press

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): De Leersnyder, Fien, Vanhoorne, Valérie, Kumar, Ashish, Vervaet, Chris, De Beer, Thomas

In the current study, the ability to use in-line NIR inside the feed frame of a tablet press to monitor the residence time distribution inside the tablet press was investigated. Pulse-response experiments were performed. In-line measurements inside the feed frame were compared to measurements on...