Background

The global pharmaceutical industry is valued at more than one trillion dollars per year and the cost of drug manufacture represents around $150 billion including a cost of goods of 20–25%. The manufacturing of medicines utilises a range of processes where various materials are combined with the drug substance to deliver a high quality, consistent and stable drug product. A consistent feed of the raw materials into the processes, such as crystallization, blending or granulation, is of paramount importance as any variations in the feed stream directly impact quality attributes of the final drug product. The need to produce lifesaving medicines for small patient populations as well as to manufacture products with high-potency drugs and for small-scale clinical trials requires feeding processes capable of continuously delivering small amounts of material. Consistent and accurate powder flow rates in micro-feeding is a challenge across various industries including the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, chemical and food industries. Current technologies, such as screw feeders and vibrating feeders, cannot achieve the accuracy and flow rates needed for manufacturing future drug products in a continuous manner.

Technology Overview

Continuous micro-feeding is a crucial operation to reduce waste and improve product consistency through minimising variations in the feed stream. The project team has developed a powder micro-feeder that is able to accurately feed low quantities (< 10 g/hr) of pharmaceutical powders - equivalent to adding less than a spoonful of sugar uniformly to coffee over 30 minutes.

Benefits

The technology will improve product consistency and process yield leading to significant cost savings. It will improve the quality of drug products and will enable new solutions for drug substance, product manufacturing and personalised medicine development, allowing the pharmaceutical industry to reduce the throughput of manufacturing processes to the amount needed for the patients rather than that required to operate the equipment.

Applications

Applicable to the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, chemical and food industries.

Opportunity

The technology currently has funding to take it from TRL 3 to TRL 6. Possible routes to commercialisation include manufacture/sale of devices or licensing.

Highly Accurate Pharmaceutical Powder Micro-feeder

Patents

IP Status

Seeking