Investment in powder rheometer for drug development programmes will help gather flowability data on increasingly-complex large molecule drug candidates
Researchers at Quintiles in Edinburgh have purchased the new Freeman Technology FT4 powder rheometer for use in the company's drug development programmes.
The purchase follows an extended rental period during which the system underwent extensive evaluation as part of Quintiles's drive to characterise candidate compounds as fully as possible early in the development cycle using minimal quantities of drug substance. The FT4 will now be used for the routine assessment of powder flowability.
David Bain, head of formulation at Quintiles, commented: "On behalf of our customers, we are interested in gathering as much flowability data as possible on the increasingly complex compounds that we work with. "Crucially, investing in the FT4 has allowed us to work with small quantities of material in order to gain a detailed understanding of its behaviour.
"This is very important as only small amounts of material are available in the early stages of formulation.
"Data gathered on how a formulation might interact with process machinery ensures that scale up and production can proceed without delaying all-important clinical studies or product launch".
In the pharmaceutical industry today, new molecules emerging from discovery programmes typically are bigger than previous generations - with additional functional groups, for example, adding structural complexity.
As a consequence, candidates have become less water soluble, more difficult to formulate and more challenging to synthesise.
It is therefore not surprising that limited quantities of material are available and that gaining an early understanding of the rheology of a formulation is of growing importance.
Reg Freeman, founder of Freeman Technology, concluded: "The FT4 is unique in measuring all the relevant forces needed to give a complete and accurate measurement of powder flowability.
"In contrast to traditional methods that give a less meaningful single number result, our approach recognises the complex nature of powders and the need to evaluate flow properties in relation to the many key variables such as flow rate, aeration, consolidation and moisture content.
"This additional information is crucial to the decisions made as a formulation moves into production and allows scientists to better match material to machine."
