Modelling, PAT and control strategy development for a continuous wet granulation line

Over the last couple of years, the pharmaceutical industry has been experiencing a number of changes in its business environment such as increased expenses in drug discovery, rising patent expiration, changing regulations etc. As a reaction, the industry is trying to improve yields throughout the entire manufacturing process by increasingly adopting a science-based approach. Having a fundamental understanding of the production processes together with improved measurement and control systems should ultimately reduce the time-to-market as well as the generation of costly waste. 

In line with this new philosophy, this project aims among others to develop and apply a predictive model for an innovative continuous wet-granulation line, type ConsiGma (GEA Pharma Systems, Wommelgem, Belgium), used by Johnson & Johnson's pharmaceutical division Janssen Pharmaceutica. To do so BIOMATH joins forces with the Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Process Analytical Technology of Ghent University and the Department of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering situated at the NJ State University of Rutgers. 

A broader objective of this collaboration is to promote the development of tools for predictive understanding, monitoring, and optimal control of pharmaceutical manufacturing applications. Therefore the project will use standard powder flow, mixing, and tablet characterization methods together with custom made and available modeling algorithms to examine the performance of drug products in commercially available manufacturing equipment.