Roquette’s new U.S. innovation center to develop next-generation oral dosage forms for pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals

Photo © Shutterstock.com/Viktoriia LiSa

Roquette (La Madeleine, France) has opened a new, $25 million U.S. innovation center near Philadelphia, PA, “right in the heart of the United States’ Northeastern pharmaceutical corridor.” The center will focus on developing next-generation oral dosage forms for pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals. The company also has innovation centers in France and Singapore.

“Similar to Roquette’s other Innovation Centers, the new U.S. facility is dedicated to furthering the field of pharmaceutical science through cross-industry collaboration, research-led product development, and a drive to improve patients’ lives,” the company’s press release states. “Planned topics for the first wave of training workshops include selecting excipients for controlled-release dosage forms, enhancing bioavailability, and formulating effective orally dispersible and chewable tablets.”

Visitors to the innovation center seeking to improve their formulations can take advantage of the facility’s cutting-edge processing, testing, and manufacturing equipment, including a state-of-the-art R&D continuous manufacturing simulator, compaction simulator, hot-melt extruder, advanced dissolution and particle size testing technology (laser diffraction), thermal gravimetric analysis technology (TGA), and modulated differential scanning calorimetry technology (mDSC). The site also features brand-new granulation, blending, and coating equipment, as well as high-performance liquid chromatography analysis capabilities.

“Our team at the new U.S. Innovation Center has one overarching mission: to foster a seamless connection between cutting-edge science and the practicalities of drug development,” said Vinod Tuliani, PhD, Roquette’s head of global pharmaceutical sciences. “Together with Dr. Peter Freed, our newly appointed head of global pharma customer technical support (CTS), we will push the boundaries of pharmaceutical science through close collaborations with leading universities and research institutes, and bring blue sky concepts back to earth for our customers by harnessing decades of prototyping, testing, sales, and marketing experience.”