Applications of Crystallization Science and Technology in the Manufacturing of Pharmaceutical Products. (invited)

Many pharmaceutical products owe their properties to the manner in which they are brought from a solution to solid form. Inevitably this involves crystallization, either of an intermediate that is subsequently re-dissolved and further processed or of the final ingredient about to be formulated into a product. Few places in process technology depend so strongly on the path by which an operation is conducted: e.g. changes in cooling or evaporation rate in batch crystallization can have huge impacts on crystal size distribution and morphology (shape and lattice structure). In the current presentation, emphasis will be given to three topics: (1) fundamental phenomena that influence product properties, (2) how knowledge of these phenomena can be used to manipulate product characteristics, and (3) modern measurement and control technologies that hold promise for improving pharmaceutical manufacturing.