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The Problem with Crushing Adult Tablets A remarkable proportion of medicines given to children are unlicensed for paediatric use. Nurses crush adult tablets, pharmacists compound extemporaneous liquids, and parents split scored tablets into fractions. None of these workarounds are ideal. All of them introduce dose uncertainty. Some destroy formulation features, like modified release coatings, that […]

Why Patients Want Prefilled Syringes Ask a patient which they would prefer for a monthly self-injection: a glass vial, a needle, and a syringe they have to assemble themselves, or a prefilled autoinjector they click and hold against their arm. The answer is obvious. Prefilled syringes and autoinjectors have become the standard delivery format for […]

A Test That Needs to Mean Something Dissolution testing is one of the most widely performed analyses in pharmaceutical development. It is also one of the most frequently misunderstood. A dissolution test that cannot distinguish a good batch from a bad one is not a quality control tool. It is a formality. And a test […]

Why a US Site Matters For biotech companies based in North America, time zone alignment and proximity are not trivial. A development partner eight hours ahead means decisions made in the afternoon do not get actioned until the next day. Equipment access, sample shipping, and site visits all become harder when the facility is on […]

What Makes a Compound High Potency? The term high potency active pharmaceutical ingredient (HPAPI) refers to any compound with significant biological activity at very low doses, typically below 1 milligram per day in humans, or with occupational exposure limits in the microgram per cubic metre range. The category includes cytotoxic oncology agents, hormonal compounds, certain […]

Two Routes to the Same Goal When a BCS Class II molecule needs bioavailability enhancement and simpler approaches such as particle size reduction or salt selection have not provided a sufficient solution, amorphous solid dispersions are often the next logical step. The two dominant manufacturing technologies for pharmaceutical ASDs are hot melt extrusion (HME) and […]

Why Standard Module 3 Templates Fall Short for Nanomedicines The Common Technical Document (CTD) Module 3 template was designed for conventional small molecule and biological drug products. For nanomedicine products, including lipid nanoparticles, polymeric nanoparticles, and metal oxide nanoparticle systems, the template provides a useful framework but cannot accommodate the full complexity of the characterisation […]

Not Every Solubility Problem Needs a Complex Solution When a development team encounters a BCS Class II molecule with poor aqueous solubility, the instinct is often to reach for the most technically sophisticated tool available: an amorphous solid dispersion by hot melt extrusion or spray drying, or a lipid-based formulation system. These technologies are powerful, […]

The Case for Sustained Release at the Nanoscale Many therapeutic molecules have pharmacokinetic profiles that are poorly suited to their intended use. A drug that clears from circulation within a few hours may need to be dosed multiple times daily to maintain therapeutic concentrations, creating peaks and troughs in exposure that lead to toxicity at […]

A Rapidly Maturing Regulatory Framework The approval of the first mRNA COVID-19 vaccines in late 2020 was a watershed moment for LNP-based medicines and for the regulatory agencies that oversee them. Within the space of two years, both the FDA and EMA moved from limited experience with LNP products to reviewing and approving the most […]

Inorganic Nanoparticles in Pharmaceutical Development The pharmaceutical nanoparticle landscape extends well beyond lipid and polymer systems. Metal and metal oxide nanoparticles, particularly gold nanoparticles and iron oxide nanoparticles, have physical properties that make them uniquely useful in diagnostic imaging, thermal therapy, and the emerging field of theranostics, where a single agent combines diagnostic and therapeutic […]

The Problem That Most mRNA Gets Wrong The appeal of mRNA therapeutics is straightforward: deliver the genetic instructions for a beneficial protein directly into cells, let the cell’s own machinery produce the protein, and achieve a therapeutic effect without permanently altering the genome. The challenge is equally clear: mRNA is a large, negatively charged, inherently […]