Press Room

Event

ECA Conference: Spray Drying - Solutions for the Pharmaceutical Industry

Start

Tuesday, September 24, 2024

End

Thursday, September 26, 2024

Location: Lisbon, Portugal

The ECA Conference in Spray Drying takes place in Lisbon, Portugal, September 24-26. Register today

Spray drying is presently one of the most exciting technologies for the pharmaceutical industry, being an ideal process where the end-product must comply with precise quality standards regarding particle size distribution, residual moisture/solvent content, bulk density and morphology.

At Hovione, we are proud to be part of this innovative field and are excited to join leading individuals from industry, academia and regulatory agencies at the ECA Conference on “Spray Drying - Solutions for the Pharmaceutical Industry”.

Register today

and take advantage of the unique opportunity to visit Hovione's cutting-edge labs and manufacturing facilities in Lisbon, Portugal

The objective of the conference is to offer a platform for exploring spray drying technology and processes. Attendees will see firsthand demonstrations of solutions for diverse requirements and benefit from a site visit to gain hands-on experience in Spray Drying.

Speakers

Dr. Sune Klint Andersen, Janssen Pharmaceutica
Dr. Jean-René Authelin, Sanofi
Dr. Rainer Nicolai, F. Hoffmann La-Roche
Simon Phillips, Nova Laboratories
Dr. João Pires, Hovione
Dr. Thomas Quinten, Janssen Pharmaceutica
Dr. Inês Ramos, Hovione
Dr. Harald Stahl, GEA

Join the conference's sessions led by our experts

"Amorphous solid dispersions by Spray drying from a formulation perspective"

Inês Ramos, Ph.D., R&D Manager, Formulation, Oral Drug Product Development

Description: The manufacturing of Amorphous solid dispersions (ASD) has become an established and commercially demonstrated strategy to improve the bioavailability of poorly water-soluble drugs. ASD formulation typically requires the definition of multiple factors that can amount to extensive lab experimentation, hindering fast-to-market. This lecture will provide an overview of how to design a Successful Formulation for Amorphous Solid Dispersions Produced by Spray Drying, using a streamlined approach and a proprietary technology to expedites the screening phase with minimal API requirements. An overview of Hovione’s methodology, the evaluation process, and the studies typically utilized, insights on alternative excipients, as well as key information needed to make a formal assessment of the best candidates will be provided resorting to case-studies.

"Scale-Up of a Spray Drying Process"

João Vicente, Ph.D., R&D Director, Corporate Technical Services

Description: A spray drying process will be subjected to multiple scale-up steps throughout the product’s life-cycle, thus requiring a robust process understanding to control the products properties. The scope of this talk is to describe the knowledge and risk based methodology that guides the stages from the process design up to qualification and commercial phase of a spray drying manufacturing process. The lecture will focus on predictive tools used to support process/product development and scale-up activities.

"Tailoring Spray Drying Processes for Biopharmaceutical and Respiratory Formulations"

João Pires, PhD., R&D Senior Manager, Process Development, Inhalation and Advanced Drug Delivery

Description: This presentation is dedicated to exploring the primary requirements and potential challenges inherent in applications of spray drying with highly particular specifications such as biopharmaceutical and respiratory formulations. The discussion will delve into the intricacies of accommodating these specifications and de-risking the process during its evolution from laboratory-scale up to commercial manufacturing. By focusing on these nuances, the aim is to provide insights into optimizing the spray drying process for various pharmaceutical contexts, with a keen emphasis on achieving overall product quality with the shortest risk and time-to-market.

Key learnings:

Requirements & challenges when applying spray drying for biopharmaceutical and respiratory products
Adaptation of specifications and de-risking of the process during its development from laboratory scale to commercial production
Optimisation of the spray drying process for assuring product quality, minimize risk and assure shortest time to market


Inês Ramos, Ph.D. Manager R&D Oral Drug Product - Formulation Group	João Vicente, Ph.D. Director R&D Corporate Technical Services	João Pires, Ph.D. Senior Manager R&D Process Development, Inhalation and Advanced Drug Delivery

More about the Conference, Speakers and Programme

More about the Site Visit:

As part of the conference, registered participants will have a unique opportunity to visit Hovione's cutting-edge labs and manufacturing facilities in Lisbon, where research, development, and manufacturing activities take place.

In the labs you will gain access to Particle Engineering facilities, explore some of the most advanced analytical PAT tools, and get a close look at the specialized equipment used in spray drying development. You will also have the chance to observe analytical and process development operations, guided by Hovione experts.

During the visit to the manufacturing facilities, you will witness a state-of-the-art facility in action, showcasing a commercial spray drying unit.

Please note that availability for this exclusive site visit is limited, so securing your spot early is highly recommended to ensure you don't miss out on this opportunity to experience Pharmaceutical innovation at Hovione.

We provide bus transfer from the conference hotel to the Hovione sites. After the site visit there will be transfers to the airport and back to the conference hotel
Due to competition reasons, individual participants may be excluded from the site visit
Participants are required to sign a Confidential Disclosure Agreement (CDA) before entering Hovione sites

More about the ECA Academy:

The ECA Academy is the educational organisation established by the ECA Foundation. It develops and organises a wealth of international education courses, conferences (also as part of a GMP Certification Programme) and webinars around GMP and regulatory compliance, picking up emerging GMP challenges and currently discussed subjects. While courses and webinars are designed to provide continuous education for GMP professionals in production, quality control, quality assurance etc, European conferences are organised as discussion forums on new trends and developments.

If you have any questions about the Conference:

Tel.: +49 (0)6221 / 84 44 0

www.gmp-compliance.org

The Leader in Spray Drying

With the largest number of commercial projects, the best science and engineering, the largest capacity, and the most experienced team, Hovione can take your project from development to market like no one else.

Learn more on how to overcome your solubility issues with the best scale-up science.

Also in the Press Room

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The CDMO is preparing for its New Jersey facility to become fully operational this year. Hovione’s multimillion-dollar investment in expanding its East Windsor, NJ manufacturing site is quickly coming to fruition. Contract Pharma will be visiting the site later in April 2026 to provide a unique overview of what’s new. As a preview, the Contract Pharma team met with Hovione at the Drug, Chemical & Associated Technologies Association (DCAT) Week. David Basile, Vice President of Technical Operations—Americas, spoke at the opening Member Company Announcement Forum on March 23, 2026. In this interview, Basile expands on his remarks at the Announcement Forum. As he explains, Hovione is concentrating not only on New Jersey, but also on facilities in Ireland and Portugal. Contract Pharma: Good manufacturing practice (GMP) operations will soon be fully operational at the New Jersey facility. How has Hovione progressed through this process since the initial investment cycle was announced last fall—or even prior? David Basile: It’s been a really great journey and evolution over the last two to three years, conceiving the plan to grow our U.S. footprint. It was one of the reasons I came aboard with Hovione, to grow that footprint and build our commercial manufacturing prowess in the States. In New Jersey, we had originated [the site] as a tech transfer center. [But] we wanted to grow the organization to be more equivalent with our Portugal and Ireland sites, to do more large-scale manufacturing. So, this is part of that journey. And that’s not just bricks-and-mortar and machinery. It’s been people, talent, partnerships with clients, supporting functions such as QC [quality control] and analytical development. We’re growing our R&D teams as well. It’s a comprehensive approach to systems, people, and processes. CP: At the Member Company Announcement Forum, you ran through some of the major technical specifications of the NJ expansion. Can you talk about a few of the highlights and their capabilities? Basile: This year we’ll be starting up two PSD-3 scale spray dryers. This is a useful scale of machinery for our clients. It plays nicely between the PSD-2 and PSD-4 scales that we have elsewhere in the network. I’d say it’s medium-to-large scale capacity; we could do 30 metric tons annually out of this type of a unit. Product to product, that differs, but we do have products that put that kind of volume out in a PSD-3, so it’s not small-scale. Customers want to hear this because [they want to gain] efficiency with their batch size, and turnaround time. And when we campaign, we can really see significant throughput with this line up of new machinery and assets. The first machine that we will start up is a Hastelloy unit, which is unique. We took a pause [in the construction timeline] to make that upgrade, as we had a client that needed this configuration. There are additional clients that are interested in it too, because you can do acidic solutions and more aggressive kinds of formulations as well as solvent-based formulations. So that’s a unique element of that first machine. The second machine is being qualified later this year. Kind of a twin, but this one is standard 316 stainless steel. CP: When a company brings a new or expanded facility online, new personnel often accompanies the new tech. What is the workforce addition that you expect, and what are the challenges of retaining top talent? Basile: In preparation for commissioning and startup of this new equipment, we’ve already ramped our headcount up, to be ready for GMP launch. We’ve added roughly 20 employees in preparation for this first machine to go [live]. Over the next 18-plus months, we could see something on a similar scale, getting us up to that 40–50 headcount range for that facility once it’s fully operational—and more later on in 2028, when we bring in the CDC [continuous direct compression] Flex unit. That’s what’s really going to be transformative about this new facility: that integrated offering coming to life. CP: Even if the NJ facility is top of mind right now, let’s also touch on some of your plans in Europe. What is your vision for expanding in Europe in the next two to three years? Basile: Ideally, Hovione’s aim is to build an equivalent manufacturing network, where clients can go to any site across the globe and get a similar breadth and scale of offering. We’re doing that now in Ireland, expanding our PSD-4 scale spray drying. One unit was recently installed. Late last year, it went live. Then there’s at least one other new PSD-4 in motion, which is really exciting, because [spray dryers] at this site were historically [exclusive to] larger chemistry manufacturing for API [active pharmaceutical ingredient] synthesis. So now, they’re further building their muscle with additional large scale spray drying capacity. On the Portugal side, there’s a lot of great things going on. Our Tejo campus, in Seixal, Portugal, is a massive, 4.5-million-square-foot plot of land, and there’s a new, modular facility going up there. It’s incredibly exciting. The design of the facility has been well-thought through with material flows [and] gravity-fed processes. Here, we minimize handling and [maximize] speed of processing. It’s scalable. We call each one of these building segments a finger. You can copy and paste these fingers, and they are built to house both spray drying and drug product assets within each unit. So, why is that relevant? Because we can easily scale the number of fingers. When customers say, “we need more capacity,” we have the design on the table ready to go. We know how to execute, we know how to build and implement our technology platforms in a short timeframe. Deployment timeframes are truly becoming more and more relevant to our clients. CP: From last year’s DCAT Week to this year’s, what conversations are you having with industry colleagues about ever-changing geopolitics? Basile: We’re seeing that local, regional manufacturing capacity is vital. The concept of U.S. for U.S. and China for China seems to be a common theme that our clients are talking about. We happen to have an edge, as we [have already] started our journey of expanding our domestic U.S. capacity. So I think that’s a crucial piece to the puzzle, having dual-sided Atlantic manufacturing operations. The traditional global supply chain model is being challenged. Having soup-to-nuts sites that are fully autonomous in development, scale-up, tech transfer, all the way to commercial scale operation, is vital to Hovione, and how we’re protecting our supply chain. [Concerning] starting raw materials and Tier 2 suppliers, our procurement teams are out in the market making sure that there’s no single point of failure for critical materials [like] polymers and solvents that we utilize. We’re managing and mitigating risk by looking at those secondary suppliers across different geographies. CP: Encapsulating your planned expansions on both sides of the Atlantic, how would you sum up the value to the customer? Basile: It’s about speed-to-market. It’s one partner from early-phase development, clinical scale, all the way through commercial. They gain comfort, trust, and not just capacity and equipment time; it’s also about competency and depth of scientific expertise. We’re not just a traditional CDMO. There’s unique expertise in particle science and spray dried dispersions that we offer our clients that they don’t have. [With] traditional CDMOs, customers typically pay for time in [a particular] unit, for example, they’d say: “I need a machine, and I need [it for] three weeks.” Hovione is truly a partner to our clients. They’re leveraging our platforms, our know-how in spray drying, and our know-how in equipment design. Read the article at ContractPharma.com

Article

Contract Pharma, 6 April 2026

Hovione Eyeing Manufacturing Expansion on Both Sides of Atlantic

Apr 06, 2026

With key expansions coming to fruition on either side of the pond, specialist CDMO Hovione is making sure that drugmakers can access its particle engineering expertise across multiple geographies. That flexibility will be key for the Portugal-based company in the coming years as the pharmaceutical industry continues to embrace more regional supply chains. In a recent interview, Hovione's David Basile, VP of technical operations for the Americas, discussed this trend and the manufacturer's expansion project, which is set to come online in New Jersey next month. In the coming weeks, Hovione plans to debut a new spray drying expansion at its campus in East Windsor, New Jersey. The company has invested $100 million to expand its campus, including new construction and the acquisition of an additional facility and greenfield land. Specifically, one of two pharmaceutical spray drying-3 units, or PSD-3 units, will come online in the coming weeks to tackle amorphous active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and amorphous solid dispersions, according to the company. With some 80% of new small molecules in development insoluble in water, Hovione’s particle engineering and amorphous solid dispersion platform helps medicine developers improve the solubility, bioavailability, and, in some cases, the stability of their drug candidates, Basile said. The company boasts spray dryers from the lab scale to PSD3 at its original facility in East Windsor, in addition to the pair of large-scale machines about to be activated at the campus' new facility. “We’re going for a single, unified site with capabilities across the campus to do drug substance through finished drug product under one governance and quality system,” - Basile told Fierce. Read the full article at FiercePharma.com

Article

Fierce Pharma, 26 March 2026

As expansions come online, CDMO Hovione aims to meet industry's 'dual supply and sourcing' zeal: exec

Mar 26, 2026

Twenty companies presented at the annual kickoff to DCAT Week. The Drug, Chemical & Associated Technologies Association (DCAT) opened DCAT Week 2026 with its Member Company Announcement Forum. The kickoff to the annual event in New York City, underway from March 23–26, 2026, showcased 20 companies. These were selected based on their announcements’ “news priority, criticality, and interest” to DCAT member companies. The following is a summary of highlights from the presentations, supplemented by additional information provided by some of the companies. (...) Hovione Hovione’s Vice President of Technical Operations for the Americas, David Basile, delivered the company’s Member Company Announcement Forum presentation. Basile will be speaking exclusively with Contract Pharma during DCAT Week, so check back for more on Hovione’s latest. Read the full article at ContractPharma.com

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Contract Pharma, 23 March 2026

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