New commercial spray-dried dispersion facility does Capsugel proud

A new pharmaceutical spray-dried dispersion (SDD) commercial manufacturing facility at Capsugel's site in Bend, Ore, US, is ready for business. The company has announced completion of the final phase of a two-year, $25 million investment to expand its commercial SDD capability at the site. 

“This investment reflects Capsugel’s strategy to leverage our science- and engineering-based expertise to enable innovative dosage forms that improve the lives of patients and consumers,” said Amit Patel, president, Capsugel Dosage Form Solutions. “Capsugel continues to expand our capacity and capabilities to support a growing pipeline of customer projects from early-stage development all the way through late-stage clinical and commercial manufacture.”

Bend Research, a division of Capsugel Dosage Form Solutions, has a proven 20-year track record with SDD technology and experience in formulating more than 1,000 compounds. Since acquiring Bend Research, Capsugel has added two commercial-scale spray dryers, bringing the total number of commercial-scale units on its Bend campus to three. The new units use innovative dryer design and manufacturing plant technology to offer a significantly improved product throughput that minimises cycle times and maximises productivity. The newest unit, which is designed to accommodate high-potency compounds, will become fully operational later this year.

This expansion adds to Capsugel’s pre-clinical and early clinical development expertise to provide an integrated offering for feasibility, development, late-stage clinical and commercial manufacture of spray-dried drug product intermediates.

“We have taken the R&D competencies on which Bend Research has built its reputation and extended them to commercial manufacture, which is very exciting,” said Jim Nightingale, managing director of Bend Research. “With our improved throughput levels, high-potency capabilities and a commercial facility co-located with R&D, we are positioning ourselves as a partner of choice for pharmaceutical customers.”

SDD technology is one of many bioavailability enhancement approaches — including hot-melt-extruded amorphous dispersions, lipid-based formulations and nanoparticle technologies — available at Capsugel to enable the delivery of challenging molecules. 

Bend Research is Capsugel’s centre of excellence for bioavailability enhancement, modified release, other technology platforms and pharmaceutical R&D. The expanded facility, which has already created more than 20 new jobs in the past year, is expected to create an additional 20 full-time positions in the second half of 2015 and is designed to accommodate future capacity additions.