Spray Dried Dispersion

The most common route for a poorly soluble molecule, at every scale from screening to commercial.

From screening to commercial launch

More than 460 spray-dried dispersion batches a year, across five commercial projects. 

Spray dried dispersion increases the bioavailability of poorly water-soluble compounds. The integrated API and drug product spray drying service runs cross-functional teams in parallel, which is what makes a molecule move quickly from preclinical to commercial. 

The platform covers lab scale at 50 mg to 1 kg and clinical and commercial production at 1 to 100+ kg. A formulation developed at milligram scale moves through that range inside one organization.

Equipment

Screening runs on Buchi B90 and B290 units, ProCepT, Yamato and SD Micro. Scale-up and commercial manufacture run on PSD-1, SD-2, PSD-3 and PSD-4 dryers. 

A second PSD-4 comes online at Couvet in Q4 2026, putting commercial spray drying in Europe.

Polymers and solvents

Experienced with all SDD polymers and solvents. 

  • Polymers: HPMC-AS, HPMC, HPMC-P, HPC, PVP VA64, PVP, Eudragit L100-55, Eudragit EPO, PEG, Soluplus 
  • Solvents: ethanol, tetrahydrofuran, methanol, acetone, methylene chloride

Dosage forms

The SDD drug product platform supports tablets, capsules, powders, and granules.

Selected past projects

  • Scale-up from PSD-1 to PSD-3 completed in 3 months, delivering 1,400 kg of SDD intermediate for Phase III clinical trials 
  • Slow dissolution of a micronized crystal with a high melting point overcome, giving a four-fold boost in exposure 
  • Pediatric sachets taken from formulation optimization to clinical manufacturing within 6 months
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