Hovione installs large-scale spray drying unit

A large-scale spray drying unit specifically designed to handle high potency APIs and for use with a wide variety of organic solvent systems is to be installed at Hovione's new spray drying facility in Loures, Portugal.

Spray drying is used in a multitude of pharmaceutical applications and is often the first technique used to enable poorly soluble oral drugs, to isolate biopharmaceuticals and for the production of inhalable dry powder formulations.

The new large-scale commercial facility will be in full operation by March 2016, and Hovione’s senior management is enthusiastic about the expansion of its offering and the new possibilities it entails. According to Dave Hoffman, vice president of sales and business development: “The new unit has all state-of-the-art technological developments and, more importantly, unique features from an accumulated knowledge of more than 10 years of experience in commercial spray drying.”

This additional commercial unit is the first phase of a broad expansion programme designed to increase the scope of offering, address customer needs and expand capacity.

Filipe Gaspar, vice president of research and development, added: “We installed this new spray dryer in response to growing customer demand for the technology. Hovione’s leading position in spray drying is built on the experience of over 200 development programmes. Thanks to our development by design approach we can develop a process and scale it up to a commercial batch size in a matter of weeks using a minimum quantity of API."

Currently, Hovione has spray drying facilities in Portugal, Ireland and the US, covering all of the requirements of the pharmaceutical market in terms of scale, bioburden control and ability to handle highly potent materials.