Thermo Fisher Scientific and Evonik Industries cooperate to advance hot melt extrusion

07-03-2008: Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. and Pharma Polymers, a business line of Evonik Industries, announced a cooperation designed to advance the hot melt extrusion process in the pharmaceutical industry. By combining the formulation and EUDRAGIT® polymer expertise of Evonik with best-in-class equipment from Thermo Fisher Scientific, the companies aim to develop a solution that will overcome process challenges, such as solubility, and improve time to market. The Evonik and Thermo Fisher Scientific teams will work together at the Pharma Polymers facility in Mumbai, India and will serve pharmaceutical manufacturers mainly in Asia with feasibility and demonstration trials.

"This is an exciting development for both companies and our customers. This new cooperation allows us to marry our expertise in equipment, process and extrusion with the best practice in polymer dynamics, ultimately bringing our customers optimized results," said Chris Knowles, director of global sales & service for Materials Characterization with Thermo Fisher Scientific. "Our cooperation in the rapidly growing Indian market is just the beginning, and we believe the combination of our technology with the talented minds at Evonik will drive change with local companies and manufacturers around the world."

Hot melt extrusion, or the process of embedding a drug in a polymeric carrier while shaping the composite material to form a product, can improve drug solubility and taste masking, reduce production time and provide other benefits related to a drug's unique formulation. Specifically, hot melt extrusion combines several process steps of the conventional method; for example, melting, mixing, kneading, venting and extrusion are all combined into one continuous extrusion process. Hot melt extrusion is an emerging process in the pharmaceutical industry and many manufacturers still lack the necessary equipment and on-site expertise to evaluate the advantages of using EUDRAGIT® polymers and Thermo Fisher Scientific instruments. Through this cooperation, the companies establish for the first time a local opportunity for companies to test and scale-up EUDRAGIT® Polymers using the Thermo Scientific PharmaLab family of products.

"Our work with Thermo Fisher Scientific will enable a faster response to customer needs and will increase the options we can offer them," said Dr. Hema Ravishankar, business director for Pharma Polymers in India at Evonik Industries. "We're bringing our customers the technology and the hands-on experience through regular seminars, and this combination will be vital to building a deeper understanding of hot melt extrusion capabilities for the business and the pharmaceutical industry in Asia."