Functional Excipients
FORMULATION FORUM – Application of Nano-Emulsion Technology to Address Unmet Medical Needs: A Case Study of Clopidogrel IV by 505(b)(2) Pathway
Jim Huang, PhD, presents a case study on how the EmulSol technology produces stable, optically clear nano-emulsions without the use of organic solvents and with minimal use of surfactants using a high-pressure or microfluidic homogenization process.
SPECIAL FEATURE – Excipients: Matching Ingredients to Molecules Improves Functionality
Contributor Cindy Dubin speaks with several leading excipient manufacturers on how their excipient offerings are improving drug release, solubility, taste, physical characteristics, viscosity, and more for a range of molecules.
FORMULATION FORUM – Rational Design & Development of Lipid-Filled Hard Capsules
Jim Huang, PhD, says with ever increasing percentage of water-insoluble or low permeable new therapeutic entities among drug pipelines, lipid-based delivery systems, together with other main delivery technologies, have become an important tool for the development of those compounds.
HIGH PURITY EXCIPIENTS – A Simple Solution to a Complex Problem
William Small, PhD, and Arsalan Khan say drug degradation can have toxicological effects in many instances, and it is imperative that this mechanism be minimized as much as possible. The best solution to this is to ensure that appropriate ingredients, both high in quality and purity, are chosen and used throughout the entire drug product lifecycle.
DEVELOPMENT TIMELINES – Drug Development Times, What it Takes – Part 1
Josef Bossart, PhD, explains how accurately estimating a product’s clinical development timelines is more than simply adding up the individual timelines, almost always optimistic. You need to “know” the numbers, not just calculate them.
2020 COMPANY PROFILES & CAPABILITIES
For each participating company, this section presents a detailed summary highlighting their core technologies, capabilities, technologies, and services.
MICROFLUIDIC ENCAPSULATION – Controlling Drug Delivery With PLGA
Richard Gray, MA, discusses the use of polymer microparticles for pharmaceutical applications, including specific examples of polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) encapsulation.
SPECIAL FEATURE – Excipients: Formulators Want Excipients for Solubility & Beyond
Contributor Cindy H. Dubin speaks with leading excipient companies to discuss the current role excipients are playing in continuous manufacturing, biopharma formulation, and controlled- and immediate-release delivery.
SPECIAL FEATURE – Improving Bioavailability & Solubility: Chemical & Physical Modification vs. Formulation Development
Contributor Cindy H. Dubin speaks with several leading companies to explore chemical and physical modification versus formulation development, and new technologies and techniques for improving bioavailability and solubility.
MULTIPARTICULATE SYSTEM – Advances in Lipid Multiparticulate Technologies for Controlled Release
Jaspreet Arora, PhD, Samantha Saville, and Brett Waybrant, PhD, focus on a controlled-release LMP formulation to identify optimum annealing conditions and to better understand the annealing mechanism.
EXCLUSIVE ONLINE CONTENT

Roquette Expands Global Reach of Plant-Based Excipients Portfolio With Complete Acquisition of Crest Cellulose
Roquette recently announced its complete acquisition of India-based excipient manufacturer, Crest Cellulose. Following its purchase of a majority share in the company in 2018, this latest move….

New Lipid Facility at Evonik’s Site in Hanau to Produce Clinical & Launch Quantities of Lipids for Innovative Medicines
Evonik is building a new cGMP facility to manufacture lipids for clinical development and launch of innovative medicines. The new cGMP lipid launch facility is located in….

Evonik Now Offers Enteric-Protected Ready-to-Fill Capsules – EUDRACAP- in IPEC-GMP Quality
Evonik’s EUDRACAP enteric easy-to-handle capsules are now globally available produced under IPEC-GMP. Launched last year, EUDRACAP enteric are….

Roquette Expands PEARLITOL SD Mannitol Range for Highly Sensitive APIs
Roquette recently announced the addition of a new grade to its PEARLITOL SD mannitol range for direct compression – PEARLITOL 150 SD. Developed specifically for….

DFE Pharma Expands its Inhalation Portfolio With New Launch
DFE Pharma recently announced the expansion of its Dry Powder Inhalation (DPI) portfolio with the launch of Lactohale 400. The addition of Lactohale 400 further enhances the completeness of DFE Pharma’s portfolio of inhalation-grade lactose…..
MARKET NEWS & TRENDS
WEBINARS

WEBINAR – Understanding Patch Composition for Effective Transdermal Delivery
As the advantages of transdermal drug delivery grow, the global market for transdermal patches also is growing. Join DuPont™ Liveo™ Healthcare Solutions and Gattefossé Pharmaceuticals for a complimentary one-hour webinar to explore the current….

Where Do We Stand on Poorly Soluble Drugs and Peptides in Oral Delivery?
The Rule of 5 suggests that, for oral bioavailability, a better chance for oral absorption is obtained when the molecules are within the parameters of the Rule of 5’. However, the pharmaceutical industry is achieving oral efficacy with drugs that exceed….

Oral Delivery of Hydrophilic Macromolecules: Lipid-Based Nanocarriers as Key to Success
This LIVE event has already taken place CLICK HERE to access the recorded version of this event and receive a copy of the presentation. Join…
WHITE PAPERS

WHITEPAPER – Improve Process Economics & Enable High Protein Concentrations
What if you could achieve higher protein concentrations during downstream processing? This whitepaper spotlights how excipient combinations can enhance manufacturability and final concentration of mAb formulations.

WHITE PAPER – Poloxamer: A Simple & Powerful Solution for Accelerating Dissolution
This white paper will introduce the concept of dissolution and discuss how poloxamers are a simple yet powerful formulation approach that can enhance dissolution rate, while minimizing resource requirements.

WHITEPAPER: Lonza Engine® & Xcelodose®: Accelerating Preclinical & Clinical Trial Pathways With Target Dosing Technologies
Learn how Lonza helps developers quickly assess new drug candidates while minimizing API consumption through efficient excipient screenings, encapsulation and early-phase clinical development technologies. Drug…

FORMULATION FORUM – A Quick Approach for Evaluation of Drug-Excipient Compatibility: Case of Acetylsalicylic Acid
In this study, the authors monitor acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) hydrolysis in different formulations using UPLC and TAM with the objective of comparing these methods for agreement, speed, and efficiency in predicting drug stability. In parallel, they assess the impact of the excipient choices on the stability of the ASA.

ProPerma™ Oral Formulation Technology
ProPerma™ uniquely improves both permeability and bioavailability of BCS III and BCS IV compounds by deploying an innovative and bespoke combination of GRAS and novel enhancing excipients…
What are functional excipients?
The global pharmaceutical excipients market was valued at $7.7 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach $11.2 billion by 2026. Functional excipients are witnessing a strong demand as companies supply a wide range of functional excipients that help manufacturers produce cost-effective, high-quality, finished pharmaceutical product. Many industry experts point to a widening demand and use of organic pharmaceutical excipients. These organic excipients include oleochemicals, petrochemicals, proteins, carbohydrates, and others. Additionally, binders and functional excipients are witnessing a strong demand. Regarding delivery route, it is the topical segment that is witnessing fast growth in the global pharmaceutical excipients market, as topical drug delivery is witnessing a significantly stronger progression because of its ability to surpass the metabolism pathways of the stomach and liver.
However, the high cost associated with the drug development process will impede the growth rate of the pharmaceutical excipients market. Additionally, strict government regulations have hindered the pharmaceutical excipients market growth. Safety, quality concerns, and lack of awareness will further challenge the market in the forecast period mentioned above.
This is particularly true for novel excipients, which do have technical, therapeutic, and commercial benefits in oral drug delivery. Despite their formulation-enhancing benefits, novel excipients are sacrificed early in development because of a lack of precedence of use.
Without an independent pathway to allow new excipients or new uses for existing excipients into drug products, except when associated with a drug filing, there are limited tools available for pharmaceutical companies to formulate better performing, and in many cases, life-saving drugs. Meanwhile, drug manufacturers are reluctant to use new excipients and take on the additional layer of scrutiny from regulatory agencies to demonstrate full excipient characterization, safety, quality, function, and appropriateness of use.
Functional Excipients and the FDA
The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has acknowledged that the lack of novel excipients is indeed a problem. In September 2021, the Agency announced the Novel Excipient Review Pilot Program, which will select and review four novel excipients in the next two years using a new pathway. This will allow manufacturers to obtain an FDA review prior to the use of the novel excipient in a drug formulation.
The FDA’s recent stance and acceptance that the novel excipients are critical in development of new drug candidates, the perceptions around the novel excipients are being changed as the Agency continues to embrace the facts that the pharma industry is in dire need of new excipients for bringing the innovative drugs to the market faster. This is the first time in history that the agency is opening doors for novel excipients to be freely evaluated and used in the innovative formulations for NCEs.
Note, though, that this is not an excipient approval process; the novel excipient would still be evaluated as part of the overall drug product approval. In the next 3 to 5 years, we can expect to see an acceleration in the examination of the composition and purity of excipients.