Hibreniguss (Hibre) Terefe
Hibreniguss (Hibre) Terefe, PhD, is Director of Product Development and Site Head of R&D at Ardena Somerset. He leads integrated preformulation, formulation R&D, and analytical R&D teams supporting drug product development programs from early-stage enabling technologies through Phase III and commercial launch.
Hibre brings more than 20 years of pharmaceutical industry experience in oral drug delivery systems and drug product development. His expertise includes hot melt extrusion, solubility enhancement, amorphous solid dispersions, modified release technologies, pediatric formulations, and abuse deterrent platforms. Throughout his career, he has combined scientific expertise with strategic and organizational leadership to support efficient and milestone-driven development programs. He is also recognized as an industry thought leader in oral drug product development and CMC strategy, with more than 15 publications across industry and scientific journals, contributions to the Handbook of Pharmaceutical Granulation Technology, and involvement as co-inventor on 10 patents and patent applications related to drug delivery technologies.
Hibre obtained his pharmacy degree and earned his PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry, with an emphasis in Analytical Chemistry, from Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany. He also served as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley.
Giovanna Brancatelli
Giovanna Brancatelli is Principal Scientist and Scientific Director at Ardena Solid State Research in Oss. She supervises R&D projects focused on polymorph, salt, and co-crystal screening, as well as preformulation studies supporting pharmaceutical development programs.
Giovanna joined Ardena in 2015 from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Trieste, where she conducted postdoctoral research on the molecular recognition of biogenic amines in the solid state. Her expertise includes polymorphism, crystallization, organic and inorganic chemistry, supramolecular chemistry, and X-ray crystallography.
Giovanna earned her MSc degree and PhD in Chemical Sciences from the University of Messina.
Seppe De Smet
Seppe De Smet is Director of Analytical Development. He leads the definition and execution of analytical strategies supporting drug product development across the full product lifecycle at Ardena. He focuses on aligning scientific, regulatory, and client needs through phase-appropriate analytical approaches, control strategies, and lifecycle management.
Throughout his career, Seppe has supported programs from preclinical development through clinical stages and commercialization, providing end-to-end analytical oversight tailored to each phase of development. He has worked across both CRO and biotech environments, combining project leadership with scientific expertise in small molecules and biologics. His experience includes method development, validation, GMP-compliant analytical operations, regulatory submissions, and CMC-related processes including manufacturing, quality control, and release testing.
Seppe earned his PhD in Analytical Chemistry with a strong focus on chromatography. At Ardena, he supports clients through high-quality and pragmatic analytical solutions designed to accelerate development timelines while ensuring product quality and regulatory compliance.
Sander Delahaye
Sander Delahaye is Group Leader in Analytical Chemistry at Ardena Ghent. He brings extensive expertise in analytical method development, validation, and lifecycle management within GMP-regulated pharmaceutical environments, with a strong focus on chromatographic techniques and physicochemical analysis.
Prior to joining Ardena, Sander worked at Ajinomoto OmniChem as Group Leader in Analytical Development, supporting the development and commercial manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). During this time, he built extensive expertise in analytical method development and validation in accordance with ICH guidelines, with technical experience spanning GC, HPLC/UHPLC, and orthogonal analytical techniques, including Karl Fischer titrations. He also played a key role in GMP release testing, as well as the validation and troubleshooting of analytical methods for large-scale synthetic processes. After a decade focused on API analytical development, he transitioned to Ardena to broaden his expertise toward drug product development, supporting formulation development, release testing, and stability studies for clinical trial materials.
Sander obtained his Master’s degree in Chemistry from Ghent University, followed by a PhD specializing in separation sciences. His doctoral research focused on the fundamental principles of supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) and contributed to the understanding and optimization of this technique for complex analytical applications.
