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News / Jul 03, 2017

Diane Villax receives Scientific Merit Medal

National Science and Technology Meeting, Science 2017, in Lisbon, Portugal

Diane Villax Award Scientific Merit Medal | Hovione

Diane Villax, Founder Chairman, received the Scientific Merit Medal, from the Portuguese Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education of Portugal, Manuel Heitor, at the opening session of the National Science and Technology Meeting, Science 2017, in Lisbon, Portugal.

The scientific merit medal rewards national or foreign individuals who, due to their outstanding professional qualities and the fulfillment of their duties, have made a valuable and exceptional contribution to the development of science or scientific culture in Portugal.

«It is for me a great honour to represent Hovione on this occasion and to see that our original project has continued and grown and is today recognized at the highest levels. I would like to share and dedicate this moment to my family and to all of Hovione’s Team Members, and especially to the memory of my husband Ivan, who 58 years ago was a visionary and believed that it was possible to create in Portugal an innovative, research-based company» said Diane Villax after the ceremony.

 

Watch Diane Villax interview (in Portuguese):

Diane Villax receives Scientific Merit Medal Video | Hovione

 

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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

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