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30 Pharmaceutical Technology Europe BIO/PHARMA OUTSOURCING INNOVATION eBOOK 2022 P h a r mTe c h . c o m Manufacturing A morphous solid dispersions (ASDs) are increas- ingly used to address the need to enhance bio- availability of poorly soluble APIs. Contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) that have amassed knowledge and experience in this specialty area play a key role in the pharmaceutical industry by providing the capabilities of developing and manufacturing ASDs. "The pipeline of poorly-soluble drugs continues to grow, and ASDs remain the best-in-class platform to address poorly-soluble drugs," says Filipe Neves, strategic business senior director at Hovione. He says that spray drying has been proven as a technology for the current good manu- facturing practice (CGMP) manufacture of ASDs and that pharmaceutical companies have gained confidence in the technology and its reliability. Spray drying is becoming widely accepted and is seeing a year-on-year increase in adoption, reports Neves. "Today's APIs are increasingly insoluble, and that can pose serious problems for formulators looking to manage the bio- availability of their formulations," says Lieven Van Vooren, scientific director, Ardena, a Belgian-headquartered CDMO that acquired Spain-based Idifarma and its spray-drying ca- pabilities in September 2021. "The formulation of an ASD is increasingly being recog- nized as one of the more reliable and efficient strategies for optimizing the solubility and dissolution characteristics of low aqueous solubility compounds," Van Vooren explains. "The increased development of biologic-based drugs has also fueled demand for spray drying as an alternative for the manufacturing and processing of biologics, instead of the more traditional liquid or lyophilized solid forms," adds William Wei Lim Chin, manager, global scientific affairs, Catalent. He says that additional growth in spray drying comes from the increased consideration of spray-dried in- termediate powders for both local and systemic inhalation delivery of biologics. GAMJAI - STOCK.ADOBE.COM Spray Drying Finds Growing Use for ASDs Jennifer Markarian Amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs) are a key technology for improving bioavailability of poorly soluble APIs. CDMOs offer expertise and capacity for spray drying to manufacture ASDs.