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.

A modeling and control framework for extraction processes

05 Sep 2024 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Peter Neugebauer, Jakob Rehrl, Peter Poechlauer, Dirk Kirschneck, Martin Horn, Martin Steinberger, Stephan Sacher, Joscha Boehm, Daniel Moser

Many continuously operated pharmaceutical process routes have been presented recently. Most of these cover the synthesis of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) or solid dosage processing. However, the API purification is also gaining attraction. One widespread and waste-intensive unit...

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...

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...

Process Intensification via End-to-End Continuous Manufacturing of Atorvastatin Calcium Using an Integrated, Modular Reaction-Crystallization-Spherical Agglomeration-Filtration-Drying Process

23 Jul 2024 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Parvaresh, Rojan, Nagy, Zoltan K.

Continuous manufacturing can show potential benefits over batch processing in lower turnaround times and smaller footprint in addition to higher productivity, adaptability, and consistent product quality. Although these possible benefits exist, there are also challenges in integrating the various...

Development and Application of Control Concepts for Twin-Screw Wet Granulation in the ConsiGmaTM-25: Part 2 Granule Size

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

Traditional operation modes, such as running the production processes at constant process settings or within a narrow design space, do not fully exploit the advantages of continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing. Integrating Quality by Control (QbC) algorithms as a standard component of...

Compact NMR Spectroscopy for Automated Continuous-Flow Production of Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals (On-Demand)

31 Jan 2024 | Seminars | Contributor(s): Klas Meyer

Chemical companies are under constant pressure to improve productivity while cutting costs. Flexible and modular chemical plants can produce high-quality products using multi-purpose equipment with short downtimes, reducing time to market for new products. Intensified continuous production...

MOOC I Control Strategy - Process Control

29 Nov 2023 | Teaching Materials | Contributor(s): RCPE

MOOC I Control Strategy - Examples

29 Nov 2023 | Teaching Materials | Contributor(s): RCPE

MOOC I Control Strategy - Introduction

29 Nov 2023 | Teaching Materials | Contributor(s): RCPE

MOOC I Control Strategy - Quality Control

29 Nov 2023 | Teaching Materials | Contributor(s): RCPE

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...

Why We Need Continuous Pharmaceutical Manufacturing and How to Make It Happen

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Clive Badman, Charles L.Cooney, Alastair Florence, Konstantin Konstantinov, Markus Krumme, Salvatore Mascia, Moheb Nasr, Bernhardt L. Trout

We make the case for why continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing is essential, what the barriers are, and how to overcome them. To overcome them, government action is needed in terms of tax incentives or regulatory incentives that affect time.

Using online mass spectrometry to predict the end point during drying of pharmaceutical products

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Dodda, Aditya G., Saranteas, Kostas, Henson, Michael A.

Drying of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) is an energy-intensive process that is often a manufacturing bottleneck due to the relatively long processing times. A key objective is the ability to determine the drying end point, the time at which all solvent has been evaporated from the...

Towards a novel continuous HME-Tableting line: Process development and control concept

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Sacher, Stephan, Celikovic, Selma, Rehrl, Jakob, Poms, Johannes, Kirchengast, Martin, Kruisz, Julia, Sipek, Martin, Salar-Behzadi, Sharareh, Berger, Hannes, Stark, Gerald, Horn, Martin, Khinast, Johannes G.

The objective of this study was to develop a novel closed-loop controlled continuous tablet manufacturing line, which first uses hot melt extrusion (HME) to produce pellets based on API and a polymer matrix. Such systems can be used to make complex pharmaceutical formulations, e.g., amorphous...

The use of rheology to elucidate the granulation mechanisms of a miscible and immiscible system during continuous twin-screw melt granulation

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Monteyne, Tinne, Heeze, Liza, Mortier, Severine Therese F. C., Oldorp, Klaus, Nopens, Ingmar, Remon, Jean-Paul, Vervaet, Chris, De Beer, Thomas

Twin-screw hot melt granulation (TS HMG) is a valuable, but still unexplored alternative to granulate temperature and moisture sensitive drugs in a continuous way. Recently, the material behavior of an immiscible drug-binder blend during TS HMG was unraveled by using a rheometer and differential...

The Use of Near-Infrared and Microwave Resonance Sensing to Monitor a Continuous Roller Compaction Process

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Austin, John, Gupta, Anshu, Mcdonnell, Ryan, Reklaitis, Gintaras V., Harris, Michael T

Roller compaction is commonly used in the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries to increase and narrow the size distribution of a particulate material, making it easier to process. Both the moisture content of the material and the density of the roller compacted ribbon affect the uniformity...

The effects of unintentional and intentional process disturbances on tablet quality during long continuous manufacturing runs

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Taipale-Kovalainen, Krista, Karttunen, Anssi-Pekka, Niinikoski, Hannes, Ketolainen, Jarkko, Korhonen, Ossi

Several kinds of process disturbances can occur during (continuous) tablet manufacturing, i.e. unintentional or intentional disturbances. Long run-time continuous manufacturing studies are used to investigate the effects of intentional and unintentional deviations. In this study, the horizontal...

The Changing Face of Process Development & Chemical Manufacturing - A View from the Regulators on Continuous Manufacturing

09 Jun 2023 | Website | Contributor(s): Wiles, Charolotte

Industry wide there is a drive for resource efficiency and flexibility, to adapt quickly in what is increasingly becoming a volatile, changing marketplace. As the ‘patent cliff’ looms for many high-volume API’s, there is also a shift away from blockbusters towards lower volume, higher potency...

The Application of an Automated Control Strategy for an Integrated Continuous Pharmaceutical Pilot Plant

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Lakerveld, R, Benyahia, BHeider, PL, Zhang, HT, Wolfe, A, Testa, CJ, Ogden, S, Hersey, DR, Mascia, S, Evans, JMB, Braatz, RD, Barton, PI

Continuous manufacturing offers potential opportunities for the improved manufacturing of pharmaceutical products. A key challenge is the development of an appropriate control strategy. The experimental application of an automated control strategy is presented for an end-to-end continuous...

System-wide hybrid MPC–PID control of a continuous pharmaceutical tablet manufacturing process via direct compaction

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Singh, Ravendra, Ierapetritou, Marianthi, Ramachandran, Rohit

The next generation of QbD based pharmaceutical products will be manufactured through continuous processing. This will allow the integration of online/inline monitoring tools, coupled with an efficient advanced model-based feedback control systems, to achieve precise control of process variables,...

Tableting model assessment of porosity and tensile strength using a continuous wet granulation route

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Wang, Li Ge, Omar, Chalak, Li, Jianfeng, Mitchell, Niall, Bellinghausen, Stefan, Barrasso, Dana, Salman, Agba, Slade, David

This paper presents a comprehensive assessment of the most widely used tablet compaction models in a continuous wet granulation tableting process. The porosity models, tensile strength models and lubricant models are reviewed from the literature and classified based on their formulations i.e....

Supervisory Control System for Monitoring a Pharmaceutical Hot Melt Extrusion Process

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Markl, Daniel, Wahl, Patrick R, Menezes, José C, Koller, Daniel M, Kavsek, Barbara, Francois, Kjell, Roblegg, Evaa, Khinast, Johannes G.

Continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing processes are of increased industrial interest and require uni- and multivariate Process Analytical Technology (PAT) data from different unit operations to be aligned and explored within the Quality by Design (QbD) context. Real-time pharmaceutical process...