Press Room

Event

RDD Europe 2025

Start

Tuesday, May 06, 2025 - 09:00

End

Friday, May 09, 2025 - 18:00

Location: Estoril, Portugal

Booth Number: 23

Hovione is present at RDD 2025 in Portugal | Hovione

Hovione is exhibiting at RDD Europe, a conference that has earned a sustained reputation for impactful, actionable content covering all aspects of drug delivery to the lungs and nose. In-depth presentations and discussions on pioneering science are expected to attract an audience of 500 delegates.

Do not miss the chance to meet our experts at table #23 and attend our podium and poster presentations, and workshop sessions.

Hovione Podium Presentation – May 7

Title: β-Lactoglobulin - A Novel Excipient for Next Generation Spray-Dried Powder Formulations

Session: May 7th at 11:30AM

Location: Auditorium

Presenters: Paulo Lino. Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences. Senior scientist. Inhalation and Advanced Drug Delivery

Moderator: Paul Young, Ph.D., Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

Short description: This study explores the potential of β-lactoglobulin (BLG) isolated from bovine whey as a novel excipient in dry powder formulations for respiratory delivery. BLG formed dispersible and high-density composite particles via spray drying.
Key learning: Key findings include
- i) optimized spray drying conditions to obtain BLG particles with high fine particle fractions up to 90%;
- ii) demonstrated BLG compatibility with active pharmaceutical ingredients like fluticasone furoate and tobramycin;
- iii) stabilization of amorphous fluticasone;
- iv) high nasal deposition of BLG-based formulations
- v) pulmonary and systemic clearance in rats within 24 hours after being inhaled, with minimal immune responses and no observed toxicity.

Hovione Podium Presentation – May 9

Title: Leveraging Nasal Powders for Complex Therapeutics and Targeted Delivery

Session: May 9th at 11:00 AM

Location: Auditorium

Presenter: Patricia Henriques Ph.D. Scientist. R&D, Inhalation and Advanced Drug Delivery

Short description: This presentation explores the potential of nasal powder delivery as a platform for systemic and targeted administration of complex therapeutics. By leveraging advanced formulation strategies, we address key challenges in delivering poorly soluble small molecules and biopharmaceuticals. The talk will highlight particle engineering approaches for targeted delivery, integration with tailored delivery devices, and insights from the development pipeline, showcasing how these innovations converge to enable effective intranasal therapies.
Key learning: Understand how formulation for complex therapeutics influences the performance and clinical potential of effective nasal powder products. Explore how particle engineering and device strategies can be optimized to achieve targeted nasal delivery, enhancing patient compliance and therapeutic outcomes

Hovione Workshop – May 7

Title: Optimizing Biologics Powder Formulations: Achieving High Drug Load, Stability, and Efficient Inhalation

May 7th from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM

Sessions: 2:00-3:00; 3:15-4:15 and 4:30-5:30PM

Location: Level 0 Room D3

Presenters:

Luís Marques, Senior Scientist – R&D, Inhalation and Advanced Drug Delivery

Filipe Vultos. Ph.D. Senior Scientist II. R&D Analytical Department

Short description: Get to know Hovione´s integrated formulation-device solution for nasal powders development and learn how the early-stage in vitro screening may be predictive of the in vivo nasal powder performance.
Key learning: Interest in developing biologic drugs for inhalation delivery has surged in recent years, primarily due to the advantages of the inhalation route over the parenteral route, especially for respiratory diseases. The main challenge in developing biologic formulations is maintaining the integrity of the biologic during formulation, manufacturing, storage, and delivery to the patient. Dry powders are preferred for inhalation delivery because they offer greater convenience and stability compared to liquid formulations. However, temperature and shear stress during manufacturing can affect the integrity of biologics. This workshop explores key formulation strategies to overcome these challenges, aiming to achieve dry powder formulations for biologics that not only exhibit good stability but also improved aerosolization performance and high drug loads.

Hovione Posters

Poster P12 - Nasal Spotlight

Title: Characterization Study of Nasal Deposition Targeting the Central Nervous System

Authors: Cláudia Sofia de Pina e Costa. Ph.D. Analytical Scientist. Analytical Development
Key Learning: Highlight the impact of different formulation particle sizes and nasal casts geometries in the deposition within the nasal cavity of the nasal dry powder

Poster P1 - Bench to Bedside

Title: Distinct Baseline Phenotypical and Functional Properties of Macrophages Derived from Two Different Lots of THP-1 Monocytes for Screening the Effects of Inhalable Drugs

Authors: Alexandre Ribeiro. Ph.D. Principal Analytical Scientist. R&D. Hovione. Mykaella Mestre M.Sc. Ph.D. Candidate. R&D. Hovione & IST- University of Lisbon, Ibb
Key Learning: Show potential sources of variability in the use of macrophage-like cells derived from THP-1 monocyte as drug development tools. Proposes analyzing cellular properties related to inflammatory function and API uptake as quality standards for these cells

Poster P2 Bench to Bedside

Title: Advancing High-dosage DPI Formulations: Integrating Quality By Design For Optimized Performance

Authors: Rui Churro. Ph.D - R&D Manager, Inhalation and Advanced Drug Delivery
Key learning: This work successfully integrated advanced modeling and Quality by Design (QbD) principles to optimize dry powder inhaler (DPI) formulations, enhancing process efficiency and product consistency. The development of a leucine "fingerprint" model and empirical tools for composite DPI formulation streamlines development and de-risks scale-up, offering significant business value through reduced R&D timelines, improved product quality, and faster time-to-market for inhalation therapies

Poster P12 Aqueous Agenda

Title: Optimizing Inhalation of a Monoclonal Antibody: Transitioning from Nebulization to a Dry Powder Inhaler

Authors: Luís Marques, Senior Scientist – R&D Inhalation and Advanced Drug Delivery

Contact our experts today to learn how the Hovione team ensures that your inhalation and nasal therapies are engineered for success from start to finish.

Let’s discuss your project together. Schedule a meeting today.

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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