Inhalation Physical Form and Characterisation

In order to develop any product, and especially inhalation products, it is first necessary to start with the optimised physical form.  The first thing we can help with is getting the material to crystallise from the amorphous form.

Get the right salt for inhalation:

The selection of the correct salt can assist by optimising processability, including shape, micronisation suitability, surface energy, hygroscopicity and stability. Pharmaterials provide a state of the art salt selection service and we will use this alongside our inhalation formulation knowledge in order to get you the optimised form to develop.

Co-crystals:

A further way to optimise materials properties, and to generate new IP, is to form co-crystals that are suitable for inhalation.  Pharmaterials have considerable experience in co-crystal formation.

Intellectual property / patents:

We will also work with you to define a patent strategy if you are an innovator.  If you are a generic company we can work with you to ensure that you do not infringe patents that exist already.

Polymorphism:

As with any other route of delivery it is essential to study polymorphism as changes during production and / or shelf life are damaging.  Pharmaterials has state of the art polymorphism screening capability.

Micronisation:

We will test different forms for their suitability to be micronized – a key aspect of inhalation development

Amorphous content:

We have many years experience of applying a wide range of techniques to the study of, and the quantification of amorphous content in micronized materials (see separate menu item).  We can assist with all aspects of amorphous content control.

Further characterisation and specification development:

We can measure size distributions and help to set specs in relation to performance.  We will minimise tendency to have electrostatic charge by suitable form selection and processing options.  We have a wide range of techniques to assist you including DSC, TGA, GVS, surface area etc.

We provide the full service need to ensure you start development with the best form and all the instrumentation and knowledge to make sure that things progress well with respect to materials science and inhalation product development.