Scale-up and transfer of lyophilization processes remain very challenging tasks considering the technical challenges and the high cost of the process itself. The challenges in scale-up and transfer were discussed in the first part of this paper and include vial breakage during freezing at commercial scale, cake resistance differences between scales, impact of differences in refrigeration capacities, and geometry on the performance of dryers. The second part of this work discusses successful and unsuccessful practices in scale-up and transfer based on the experience of the authors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBest practices for performing freeze dryer equipment qualification are recommended, focusing on identifying methods to quantify shelf thermal uniformity (also known as "shelf surface uniformity"), equipment capability, and performance metrics of the freeze dryer essential to the pharmaceutical Quality by Design paradigm. Specific guidelines for performing shelf temperature mapping, freeze dryer equipment limit testing (the capability curve), and condenser performance metrics have been provided. Concerning shelf temperature mapping and equipment capability measurements, the importance of paying attention to the test setup and the use of appropriate testing tools are stressed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe freeze-drying process scale-up and transfer remain a complicated and non-uniform practice. We summarized inefficient and good practices in these papers and provided some practical advice. It was demonstrated that using the same process set points/times in laboratory and commercial scale dryers may lead to loss of product quality (collapse or vial breakage).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis work describes the lyophilization process validation and consists of two parts. Part one (Part I: Process Design and Modeling) focuses on the process design and is described in the previous paper, while the current paper is devoted to process qualification and continued process verification. The goal of the study is to show the cutting edge of lyophilization validation based on the integrated community-based opinion and the industrial perspective.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis work describes lyophilization process validation and consists of two parts. Part I focuses on the process design and is described in the current paper, while part II is devoted to process qualification and continued process verification. The intent of these articles is to provide readers with recent updates on lyophilization validation in the light of community-based combined opinion on the process and reflect the industrial prospective.
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