The deal – financial terms of which were not disclosed – will see Solvais distribute the technology – the eyecon3D - to customers worldwide as part of its contract analytical services offering.
Solvias was unavailable for comment when contacted by in-pharmatechnologist.com, however, in a statement issued this week it predicted that clients will “benefit from reduced formulation development and scale-up time plus increased process understanding and control during commercial manufacture.”
This was echoed by Innopharma CEO Ian Jones who told us the tech is a unique addition to the Swiss contractor’s offering.
“The eyecon3D particle characteriser is a direct imaging based technology – the only one on the market at the moment that is capable of providing direct images and size data in real-time, in-line and without sample preparation.
He suggested that the ability to define particle shape and size during formulation development can help manufacturers accelerate process development in accordance with quality by design (QbD) principles.
“These Critical to Quality Attributes can then be targeted during scale up thereby helping ensure the quicker achievement of successful process performance and the meeting of pre-defined registered specifications of tablet hardness, disintegration and dissolution performance.
Jones went on to say that: “This is significant news for Solvias customers because this is the type of hybrid technology that they are looking for to control their granulation, milling and spheronisation processes – both batch and continuous.”
He added that the technology is cheaper than traditional laser-based particle analysis methods and – while he declined to say how much Solvias will charge for the kit – he did say that “a customer, who implemented this technology, archived a ROI within 6 months.”