Liquid Dose Featured Articles

1. Common Challenges And Solutions Of Equipment Ownership And Use 8/6/2020

   There are many factors to consider when tasked with acquiring the equipment needed to run a pharmaceutical facility. Being aware of every upfront costs is a must when determining optimal equipment ownership. See how state-of-the-art used equipment can be a great strategy for cost savings for businesses.

2. Freeze-Drying COVID-19 Diagnostics: Formulation & Process Development And Lyophilizer Selection 7/29/2020

   Lyophilization may be considered a relatively gentle drying process, but there are still risks and pitfalls when applying it to biomolecular reagents in diagnostic tests that are different to the freeze-drying of general pharmaceuticals. Reagents typically used in ELISA and PCR based diagnostic kits for diseases, such as COVID-19 tend to contain labile  components, such as enzymes that need preserving for longevity in the supply chain or antibodies to test for a patients response to the virus, which can be challenging to stabilize for commercial use. This article summarizes a recent webinar exploring various aspects of formulation and cycle development in the lyophilization of diagnostic reagents, including those required for COVID-19 testing that may be different to regular diagnostics.

3. Equipment Capability Of Freeze-Dryers And Its Relevance To The Graphical Design Space For Primary Drying 7/29/2020

   The capabilities of a freeze dryer can change with differences in design. This is particularly important when users are transferring cycles from lab-scale to commercial-scale freeze dryers. Each freeze dryer has its own limitations and it is important to understand these limitations to avoid the risk of product failure when scaling-up the production. This article summarizes a recent webinar discussing how to measure and compare equipment capabilities of lab-scale and production scale freeze dryers in order to define optimal design space parameters.

4. Freeze Drying Of Vaccines – Challenges And Concepts In Formulation And Process Development 7/29/2020

   Vaccination prevents millions of deaths from infectious diseases per year; however, there are still millions of people who die from these diseases due to weak thermostability demanding cold chains, long-term stability issues and distribution challenges. All these limitations can be overcome by creating a dry product through lyophilization. With the urgency to develop a coronavirus vaccine, it is a crucial time to discuss the process of freeze-drying vaccines. This article summarizes a recent webinar that discussed the suitability of freeze-drying vaccines to increase their thermostability.

5. Bridging The Divide - Streamline The Process Development & Tech Transfer Process 3/30/2020

   Preparing drug products for tech transfer can be a daunting task. Traditional process development practices tend to be labor intensive, difficult to scale to a manufacturing environment, and gathering the critical process data to make informed decisions can be a challenge. This article describes how the advantages of AST's GENiSYS® system can streamline the tech transfer process by enabling efficient drug development activities and process data collection.

6. 10 Worst Containment Engineering Mistakes 3/27/2019

   Engineering is a process to develop a design to solve a problem. In the world of containment engineering, careful premeditation is important to the completion of a successful engineering project.

7. Selecting The Best Pharmaceutical Mixing Equipment For Your Operations 3/21/2019

   Finding the right mixing equipment isn’t as simple as selecting an item from a menu. This article is a guide to considerations when choosing pharmaceutical mixing equipment and vendors for a facility.

8. Why Now Is The Time For An Aseptic Processing Revolution 12/27/2018

   This article is the first in a three-part series exploring the need and means to achieve improvement in aseptic processing of sterile biopharmaceutical products. Part 1 presents the current state and opportunity for improvement using innovative technology. Part 2 further discusses some of the changes in strategy that might be needed for and result from the use and improvement of technology. Part 3 presents the impact of technology changes.

9. Seven Trends Impacting Chemical Process Development 10/16/2018

   Using new approaches to process development and associated equipment, engineering and business models to increase efficiency and reduce costs.

10. Patient-Centric Drug Design — A Clinical And Academic Perspective 8/11/2017

    Most issues in pediatric drug development arise from the fact that drugs are traditionally developed for adults and not children. Dr. Meyers shares the hurdles and  improvements in pediatric drug development.