Pharmatek purchases spray dryer for drug formulation and manufacturing

Apr 25 2011

Pharmatek Laboratories, Inc., a premier contract development and manufacturing organization supporting the pharmaceutical industry, announced that it has added spray drying to its drug formulation and manufacturing capabilities.  The company has purchased a Buchi B-290 Mini Spray Dryer for formulation feasibility studies and small-scale clinical manufacture.  This technology can be used for both oral and parenteral dosage forms.

"Spray drying is an integral technology in Pharmatek's toolkit for formulating insoluble compounds. The high degree of control and reduced process steps afforded by this process offer a number of advantages over other formulation techniques: enhanced robustness and reproducibility, and the ability to control and create uniform particle size and stabilize volatile and thermo-sensitive compounds," stated Jeffrey Bibbs, CEO and CSO of Pharmatek.

In addition to converting liquid solutions or suspensions into solids in a single process step, spray drying allows for swift and efficient coating of particles, creating matrices of drug and polymers (spray dried dispersion), and manufacturing of microcapsules.

"Adding spray drying to our drug development toolkit provides another degree of sophistication to Pharmatek's broad array of formulation technologies and equipment," continued Tim Scott, President of Pharmatek.  "In the end, it is all about offering our clients another approach to formulating and manufacturing their insoluble compounds."