The expansion of hot melt extrusion (HME) capabilities at the site enables Catalent to develop amorphous dispersions and controlled and modified drug delivery, such as controlled release for enhanced bioavailability.
A Catalent spokesperson told us, “OptiMelt HME technology is just one of the tools at our disposal at the Somerset Center of Excellence that can be used to overcome these challenges. By augmenting our existing capabilities we will increase flexibility and achieve faster turnaround on projects.”
Bitter taste from active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) can also be masked through HME technologies.
Catalent began investments in the Somerset facility, which also serves as the company headquarters, in 2018 to create a new drug development center of excellence.
The newest investment of $5m (€4.46m) will also include the addition of manufacturing and analytical equipment to enhance development capabilities for preclinical and early clinical phase development.
The new equipment will support the company’s preclinical to clinical phase formulation, as well as the analytical tools needed to support the testing and characterization of these formulations.
From the previous investment, the site houses analytical labs, pilot and clinical scale equipment, including its current HME and fluid-bed processing systems.
