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The Solubility Problem in Modern Drug Development Estimates from published literature suggest that more than 70% of new chemical entities in development pipelines have poor aqueous solubility. Many of these fall into BCS Class II (low solubility, high permeability) or Class IV (low solubility, low permeability) under the Biopharmaceutics Classification System. For these molecules, getting […]

Two Strategies for the Same Problem Poor aqueous solubility is one of the most common challenges in small molecule drug development. A molecule that does not dissolve adequately in the gastrointestinal fluid cannot be absorbed at a rate sufficient to achieve the intended therapeutic effect, regardless of how potent it is in a biochemical assay. […]

Why the First Crystal Form Is Rarely the Right One When a medicinal chemist synthesises a new active pharmaceutical ingredient for the first time, the crystal form that precipitates out of solution is a function of the solvent system, the temperature, and the rate of crystallisation used. It is rarely the thermodynamically stable form, and […]

Rare Disease Development Is a Different Kind of Problem The clinical supply challenges in rare disease drug development are categorically different from those in standard pharmaceutical programmes. Patient populations are small, sometimes in the dozens rather than the thousands. The drug may be highly potent, genetically targeted, or manufactured using a technology platform with limited […]

The Industry’s Environmental Challenge Pharmaceutical manufacturing is resource intensive. Organic synthesis generates solvent waste. GMP facilities consume significant energy for temperature and humidity control. Global clinical supply chains generate carbon through international shipping. For an industry that exists to improve human health, the environmental cost of drug production is an increasingly visible contradiction. This tension […]

Why the Geography of Your CDMO Partner Matters The choice to develop a drug in Europe rather than the United States is not just a matter of geography. It affects your regulatory strategy, your manufacturing standards, the reference points in your CMC dossier, and ultimately the timeline to your first clinical data. For many biotech […]

Where Outsourced Programmes Actually Go Wrong In a post-mortem analysis of delayed pharmaceutical development programmes, the root cause is rarely technical. It is almost always communication. The formulation team changed the API particle size specification but did not formally notify the manufacturing team. The client expected a stability report in a format that the CDMO […]

The Cost of Finding Problems Late In pharmaceutical development, the same problem costs vastly different amounts depending on when it surfaces. A solubility issue identified during pre-formulation screening costs a few weeks and a reformulation study. The same issue discovered during a GMP manufacturing campaign costs that, plus the failed batch, plus the regulatory amendment, […]

Why CDMO Selection Deserves More Due Diligence Than It Usually Gets Choosing a contract development and manufacturing partner for a Phase I programme is one of the most consequential decisions an early-stage drug developer makes. It shapes your timelines, your CMC package, and your ability to respond when something unexpected happens. Yet many biotech companies […]

The Cheapest Quote Is Not Always the Cheapest Programme When a biotech company evaluates its outsourcing options, the instinct is often to find the best vendor for each individual piece of work. The best formulation house for development, the best API lab for synthesis, the best analytical CRO for method validation, and the best CMO […]

The Hidden Cost That Nobody Puts in the Budget When a drug development team builds a plan for getting from lead candidate to Phase I, they typically account for formulation development costs, GMP manufacturing costs, analytical work, and regulatory fees. What rarely appears on the spreadsheet is the cost of moving data and processes between […]

Developing complex nanomedicines like lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) and polymeric micelles introduces unique challenges for traditional bioanalytical validation. In conventional small-molecule formulations, quantifying drug concentrations is a straightforward process of extraction and chromatographic resolution. However, within a nanomedicine matrix, the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) exists in a dynamic equilibrium, partitioned between an encapsulated core and an […]