Hovione Unveils New Continuous Tableting Line at Lisbon R&D Centre

Hovione recently announce the opening of a state-of-the-art continuous tableting (CT) line at its R&D Center in Lisbon. The new line is the result of the partnership with GEA, a global leader in process technology for the pharmaceutical industry. Since announcing their partnership in 2022, Hovione and GEA have worked to advance continuous tableting technology. Their collaboration seeks to boost the adoption of continuous tableting by offering increased capacity, flexibility, standardized equipment, improved quality, and enhanced efficiency. Together, they have shown that continuous tableting can become a more accessible technology.

This new R&D line is the only one of its kind in the world and perfectly replicates the most critical components of Hovione´s state-of-the-art commercial CT line in Loures, Portugal. It also offers a high degree of flexibility in throughput and can handle highly potent Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API).

“With this new line, we will be able to optimize operating conditions with minimum amounts of API and provide a higher technical certainty when transferring from development to commercial scale,” said Jaime Del Campo, Head of R&D Services at Hovione. “The flexibility of the rig and the real-time process data monitoring capabilities contribute to a more agile design and upscaling experience.”

The new CT line at Hovione’s Lisbon R&D center is now fully operational and ready to support both existing and new projects. This investment reinforces Hovione’s global reputation in pharmaceutical manufacturing and highlights the company’s commitment to delivering innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of the industry and support quicker and more efficient market launches.

Hovione is an international company with over 60 years of experience in pharmaceutical development and manufacturing operations. As a​​​​​ Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) it has a fully integrated offering of services for drug substances, drug product intermediates and drug products. The company has four FDA-inspected sites in the USA, Portugal, Ireland and China and development laboratories in Lisbon, Portugal and New Jersey, USA. Hovione provides pharmaceutical customers with services for the development and compliant manufacture of innovative drugs, including highly potent compounds, and customized product solutions across the entire drug life cycle. In the inhalation area, Hovione offers a complete range of services, from API, formulation development and devices. Hovione’s culture is based on innovation, quality and dependability. Hovione is a member of Rx-360, EFCG and participates actively in industry quality improvement initiatives to lead new global industry standards.