Lonza establishes centre of excellence to streamline formulation development

Biotechnology company Lonza has established a new Centre of Excellence at its Bend (OR) USA site.

Lonza’s Center of Excellence for Dry Powder Inhaler (DPI) drug product development will utilise the company’s experience in particle engineering and will incorporate its network capabilities for specific customers and drug programmes.

Earlier this month Lonza expanded its particle engineering services in an effort to expand its capacity and specialised capabilities.

Lonza’s core DPI service offer is comprised of a head-to-head evaluation of particle engineering approaches (spray drying and micronization), along with capsule-based DPI formulation design and development.

Christian Dowdeswell, SVP Lonza Pharma and Biotech said: “Drug delivery via the lung is an increasingly viable treatment option for a number of therapeutic areas. We have determined a growing market need for service partners that have both particle engineering expertise as well as integrated product development solutions that can effectively advance customer molecules utilising the DPI format while minimising program risk and complexity.”

The move comes in response to an increase in the number of candidate compounds which are delivered via nasal routes. Particle engineering capabilities combined with formulation design expertise are critical factors in helping manufacturers meet target product profiles and accelerate development timelines.

Lonza utilises phase-appropriate assets to provide capsule-based DPI formulations for feasibility studies in 12 weeks. The DPI service package also includes initial stability studies and can be tailored to individual drug programmes.

Herbert Chiou, subject matter expert – DPI Formulations at Lonza, added: “The key challenge for respiratory delivery remains the ability to engineer stable drug particles.  We provide DPI formulation services based on our vast experience in particle engineering, formulation design and encapsulation techniques tailored to the target product profile and delivery device.”