The role of digital twins in driving sustainability

29 Oct 2024 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Deborah McElhone, Barrie Cassey, Kamal Abu-Hassan

As the pharmaceutical sector endeavours to become more sustainable, we hear how digital twins – virtual replicas of systems or products that can help predict performance – are supporting the industry in its efforts.

Continuous manufacturing: Changing the paradigm in the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector

23 Sep 2024 | Magazine | Contributor(s): Indu Bhushan

The author explains how continuous manufacturing is reshaping pharmaceutical production

The Rise of Continuous Manufacturing in Pharma

13 Aug 2024 | Website | Contributor(s): Editorial Team

"Mr Indu Bhushan, CEO and Director of STEERLife shares his insights on the transformative journey of continuous manufacturing, and the advanced technologies that have propelled this paradigm shift. He also throws light on how continuous manufacturing has accelerated drug development...

Critical review on the role of excipient properties in pharmaceutical powder-to-tablet continuous manufacturing

13 Aug 2024 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Sara Fathollahi, Pauline H. M. Janssen, Bastiaan H. J. Dickhoff, Henderik W. Frijlink

The pharmaceutical industry is gradually changing batch-wise manufacturing processes to continuous manufacturing processes, due to the advantages it has to offer. The final product quality and process efficiency of continuous manufacturing processes is among others impacted by the properties of...

Critical review on the role of excipient properties in pharmaceutical powder-to-tablet continuous manufacturing

13 Aug 2024 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Sara Fathollahi, Pauline H. M. Janssen, Bastiaan H. J. Dickhoff, Henderik W. Frijlink

The pharmaceutical industry is gradually changing batch-wise manufacturing processes to continuous manufacturing processes, due to the advantages it has to offer. The final product quality and process efficiency of continuous manufacturing processes is among others impacted by the properties of...

Process intensification of pharmaceutical powder blending at commercial throughputs by utilizing semi-continuous mini-blending

13 Aug 2024 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Maarten Jaspers, Florian Tegel, Timo P. Roelofs, Fabian Starsich, Yunfei Li Song, Bernhard Meir, Richard Elkes, Bastiaan H.J. Dickhoff

Process intensification involves the miniaturization of equipment while retaining process throughput and performance. The pharmaceutical industry can benefit from this approach especially during drug product development, where the availability of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) is often...

Matrix-assisted cocrystallization (MAC) simultaneous production and formulation of pharmaceutical cocrystals by hot-melt extrusion

23 Jul 2024 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Boksa, Kevin, Otte, Andrew, Pinal, Rodolfo

A novel method for the simultaneous production and formulation of pharmaceutical cocrystals, matrix-assisted cocrystallization (MAC), is presented. Hot-melt extrusion (HME) is used to create cocrystals by coprocessing the drug and coformer in the presence of a matrix material. Carbamazepine...

The Use of a Closed Feed Frame for the Development of Near-Infrared Spectroscopic Calibration Model to Determine Drug Concentration

23 Jul 2024 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Movilla-Meza, Nathaly A., Sierra-Vega, Nobel O., Alvarado-Hernández, Bárbara B., Méndez, Rafael, Romañach, Rodolfo J.

Purpose: This study evaluates the use of the closed feed frame as a material sparing approach to develop near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopic calibration models for monitoring blend uniformity. The effect of shear induced by recirculation on NIR spectra was also studied. Methods: Calibration models...

Continuous Manufacturing in the Pharmaceutical Industry: Enhancing Drug Production

23 Jul 2024 | Website | Contributor(s): Timmerman, Siebe

A significant shift towards continuous manufacturing (CM) is currently underway in the pharmaceutical industry. Unlike the more commonly used batch processing, CM operates continuously. This method potentially offers increased efficiency, agility, and flexibility in the manufacturing of drug...

Cleaning of direct compression continuous manufacturing equipment through displacement of API residues by excipients

23 Jul 2024 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Patel, Dhavalkumar S, Méndez, Rafael, Romañach, Rodolfo J

This feasibility study evaluates a cleaning process designed to avoid the use of detergents and reduce operator exposure to the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). The continuous manufacturing equipment was cleaned using excipients to displace ibuprofen residues from the system. The cleaning...

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...

Implementation of a fully integrated continuous manufacturing line for direct compression and coating at a commercial pharmaceutical facility – Part 1: Operational considerations and control strategy

25 Jun 2024 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Conway, Stephen L., Rosas, Juan G., Overton, Paul, Tugby, Neil, Cryan, Phillip, Witulski, Frank, Hurley, Samantha, Wareham, Laura, Tantuccio, Anthony, Ramasamy, Manoharan, Lalloo, Anita, Gibbs, Mason, Meyer, Robert F.

We implement a fully integrated continuous manufacturing (CM) line for direct compression and coating of a pharmaceutical oral solid dosage form in a commercial production facility. In this first paper of a two-part series, we describe process design and operational choices made to introduce CM...

Implementation of a fully integrated CM direct compression and coating process at a commercial pharmaceutical facility - Part 2: PAT and RTD results for normal operational conditions batches.

25 Jun 2024 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Rosas, JG, Brush, P, Thompson, B, Miller, C, Overton, P, Tugby, N, Stoliarskaia, D, Hurley, S, Ramasamy, M, Conway, SL

This is the second of two articles detailing the continuous manufacturing (CM) development and implementation activities for an marketed product which have been realized in novel, qualified equipment, using validated control strategy elements to enable manufacture of batches under current good...

Axial Chirality in the Sotorasib Drug Substance, Part 2: Leveraging a High-Temperature Thermal Racemization to Recycle the Classical Resolution Waste Stream

25 Jun 2024 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Beaver, Matthew G., Brown, Derek B., Campbell, Kiersten, Fang, Yuan-Qing, Ford, David D., Mardirossian, Narbe, Nagy, Kevin D., Rötheli, Andreas R., Sheeran, Jillian W., Telmesani, Reem, Parsons, Andrew T.

The development and kilogram-scale demonstration of a high-temperature continuous-flow racemization process to recycle the off-enantiomer of an atropisomeric sotorasib intermediate is described. Part 1 of this two-part series details the design and execution of a classical resolution to generate...

Development and Scale-Up of a Continuous Manufacturing Process for a Hydrazine Condensation Reaction

25 Jun 2024 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Zhu, Ruiheng, Reddy, Ramesh, Ding, Man, Xu, Ming, Deng, Chaoyi, Tadayon, Sam, Li, Hui, Depew, Kristopher, Lane, Benjamin

The development of a continuous manufacturing process for a hydrazine condensation reaction at high temperature is reported. This continuous process represents a safer approach to manufacture 3-phenyl-1H-pyrazol-5-amine at scale and exhibits better impurity control compared to a traditional batch...

A Virtual Plant for Integrated Continuous Manufacturing of a Carfilzomib Drug Substance Intermediate, Part 3: Manganese-Catalyzed Asymmetric Epoxidation, Crystallization, and Filtration

25 Jun 2024 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Maloney, Andrew J., Içten, Elçin, Capellades, Gerard, Beaver, Matthew G., Zhu, Xiaoxiang, Graham, Lauren R., Brown, Derek B., Griffin, Daniel J., Sangodkar, Rahul, Allian, Ayman, Huggins, Seth, Hart, Roger, Rolandi, Pablo, Walker, Shawn D., Braatz, Richard D.

This article describes the process characterization and development of models to inform a process control strategy to prepare (R,R)-epoxy ketone 2, an intermediate in the manufacture of carfilzomib. Model calibration for relevant unit operations and the development of a dynamic integrated...

Development and Scale-Up of a Continuous, High-Pressure, Asymmetric Hydrogenation Reaction, Workup, and Isolation

25 Jun 2024 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Johnson, Martin D., May, Scott A., Calvin, Joel R., Remacle, Jacob, Stout, James R., Diseroad, William D., Zaborenko, Nikolay, Haeberle, Brian D., Sun, Wei-Ming, Miller, Michael T., Brennan, John

A fully continuous process including an asymmetric hydrogenation reaction operating at 70 bar hydrogen, aqueous extraction, and crystallization was designed, developed, and demonstrated at pilot scale. This paper highlights safety, quality, and throughput advantages of the continuous reaction and...

Polymorphs, Particle Size, and a Pandemic: Development of a Scalable Crystallization Process for Molnupiravir, an Antiviral for the Treatment of COVID-19

25 Jun 2024 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Bade, Rachel, Bothe, Jameson R., Sirota, Eric, Brunskill, Andrew P. J., Newman, Justin A., Zhang, Yongqian, Tan, Melissa, Zheng, Michelle, Brito, Gilmar, Poirier, Marc, Fier, Patrick S., Xu, Yingju, Ward, Michael D., Stone, Kevin, Lee, Ivan H., Gmitter, Andrew J., Bernardoni, Frank, Zompa, Michael A., Luo, Hanlin, Patel, Sanjaykumar, Masiuk, Tina, Mora, Jeff, Ni, Tong, Okoh, Grace A., Tarabokija, James, Liu, Jiaying, Lowinger, Michael B., Mahmood, Tariq

Molnupiravir is a small-molecule active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) prodrug of a nucleoside analog that was demonstrated to be efficacious for the treatment of patients with COVID-19. Early in the pandemic, Merck & Co. Inc. partnered with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics to accelerate the...

Embracing continuous manufacturing in the pharmaceutical industry

03 Jun 2024 | Website | Contributor(s): Joelle Anselmo

"Drugmakers have been slow to adopt the production process, which experts say can streamline operations, boost data quality and reduce time to market."

Embracing continuous manufacturing in the pharmaceutical industry

03 Jun 2024 | Website | Contributor(s): Joelle Anselmo

"Drugmakers have been slow to adopt the production process, which experts say can streamline operations, boost data quality and reduce time to market."

Development of a Continuous Schotten–Baumann Route to an Acyl Sulfonamide

24 Apr 2024 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): White, Timothy D., Berglund, K. Derek, Groh, Jennifer McClary, Johnson, Martin D., Yates, Matthew H.

The development and scale-up of a synthetic route to tasisulam sodium (5-bromo-thiophene-2-sulfonic acid 2,4-dichlorobenzoylamide sodium salt, hereafter referred to as tasisulam) utilizing continuous Schotten–Baumann reaction conditions is disclosed. A new synthetic route for the cytotoxic API...

Development of a Multi-Step Synthesis and Workup Sequence for an Integrated, Continuous Manufacturing Process of a Pharmaceutical

24 Apr 2024 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Heider, Patrick L., Born, Stephen C., Basak, Soubir, Benyahia, Brahim, Lakerveld, Richard, Zhang, Haitao, Hogan, Rachael, - Buchbinder, Louis, Wolfe, Aaron, Mascia, Salvatore, Evans, James M. B., Jamison, Timothy F., Jensen, Klavs F.

The development and operation of the synthesis and workup steps of a fully integrated, continuous manufacturing plant for synthesizing aliskiren, a small molecule pharmaceutical, are presented. The plant started with advanced intermediates, two synthetic steps away from the final active...

Innovation and Continuous Improvement in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

28 Mar 2024 | Document | Contributor(s): Ajaz Hussain (Chairperson) Raafat Fahmy (CVM), William Bargo (CVM), Robert Coleman, Robert (ORA), Elise Murphy (ORA), Frank Holcombe Jr (CDER), Chris Watts (CDER), See Lam (CDER), Jon Clark (CDER), Christopher Joneckis (CBER), John Dietrick (CDER), Diana Kolaitis (ORA), Vilayat Sayeed (CDER), Mai Huynh (CVM), Norman Schmuff (CDER), Andrew Chang (CBER)

The PAT Team and Manufacturing Science Working Group Report: A Summary of Learning, Contributions and Proposed Next Steps for Moving towards the "Desired State" of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing in the 21st Century

A Shared Vision for Pharmaceutical Development and Manufacturing in the 21st Century: Contributions of the PAT Initiative

28 Mar 2024 | Document | Contributor(s): Ajaz S. Hussain

Quality & Regulatory Solutions for PAT in Continuous Manufacturing

04 Jan 2024 | Magazine | Contributor(s): Gabriella Dahlgren, Kevin A. Macias, Antonio R. Moreira, Duncan R. Thompson, Christoph Herwig, Robert Dream

Process analytical technology (PAT) is perceived as the main enabler for a robust control strategy with continuous manufacturing (CM) because process analytical technology can aid in implementing continuous manufacturing throughout the entire life cycle. This article discusses quality and...