Evonik Starts Operation of New Spray Drying Facility for Pharmaceutical Oral Excipients

Evonik has officially opened a new facility for drying aqueous dispersions of EUDRAGIT polymers at its site in Darmstadt. The new double-digit million-euro excipient manufacturing facility enables Evonik to meet the increasing demand from pharmaceutical customers for oral drug delivery solutions. By expanding production capacities, Evonik is improving supply security and shortening delivery times for EUDRAGIT polymers. The new plant also operates using green electricity and steam generated from local waste incineration, saving more than 1,000 CO₂ equivalents per year.

Since EUDRAGIT was first brought to market 70 years ago, Evonik has been building expertise and knowledge in functional excipients, as well as formulation and application services. Evonik’s life sciences division, Nutrition & Care, now uses this know-how to create system solutions, which are multi-component systems that are tailored to unique and specific customer needs.

“Darmstadt has been at the center of oral drug delivery innovation for five generations. That’s why it is with great pride that we begin a new chapter in EUDRAGIT history here. Our new facility enables our customers to develop oral drugs more efficiently and innovatively, improving the lives of more patients worldwide,” said Harald Schwager, Deputy CEO of Evonik.

Evonik’s Darmstadt site is the European headquarters of Evonik Health Care and a global hub for oral drug delivery system solutions. It also serves as a gateway to the company’s Health Care business in Asia. The new spray drying facility is built according to the pharmaceutical guidelines IPEC-GMP. It is directly connected to the plant that produces aqueous dispersions of EUDRAGIT. This reduces the amount of transportation and related emissions, while streamlining the supply chain.

EUDRAGIT polymers are polymethacrylates suitable for use in drug delivery applications. These polymers can be used individually or in combination to match virtually any target release profile including immediate, delayed and sustained release. They are also compatible with all relevant process technologies including hot melt extrusion and spray drying for solubility enhancement.

Evonik’s strong polymer development and production expertise, combined with the global application technology network of experts, has led to a steady increase in demand for polymer excipients over the past few decades.

Evonik Health Care has been a leader in advanced drug delivery for decades, supporting pharmaceutical companies worldwide with comprehensive services for the development of complex oral and parenteral drug products. This includes pharmaceutical excipients, formulation development and the manufacturing of clinical samples, as well as commercial drug products. Furthermore, the business serves as a CDMO for APIs and intermediates and has a strong focus on growth fields such as lipid-based mRNA and gene delivery, and cell culture solutions for biopharma applications.