Joris Lammens

 

Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Technology
Ottergemsesteenweg 460
B-9000 Gent(Belgium)
Tel. : +32-9-264.80.68
E-mail : joris.lammens@ugent.be

Pharm. Joris Lammens graduated as pharmacist in 2016 from Ghent University where he obtained his master in Drug Development. For his Master’s thesis, he evaluated the different process parameters in the production of nanosuspensions with a roller mill. In October 2016,  he started his PhD research on formulation aspects in (continuous-) freeze-drying.

Freeze-drying or lyophilisation is a low temperature drying process that is frequently used to improve the long-term stability of labile drugs, mostly proteins. A traditional freeze-drying cycle is a process that consist of three consecutive steps: freezing, primary drying (ice removal by sublimation) and secondary drying (removal of unfrozen water). Conventional pharmaceutical freeze-drying is performed batch-wise: vials are placed on temperature-controlled shelves in the drying chamber. However, batch wise freeze-drying is associated with significant disadvantage. A known problem is the vial-to-vial and batch-to-batch variability due to an uncontrolled freezing step and uneven heat transfer in the drying chamber. The quality of the product is only tested on a small amount of vials, which are thus not representing the quality of the whole batch. Furthermore it is an expensive, slow and hence time-consuming process.
The aim of this project is to evaluate a novel continuous freeze-drying concept in order to overcome the disadvantages of the traditional batch wise freeze-drying process. The continuous process will be performed by making use of a continuous freezing step where vials are rotating along their longitudinal axis. This results in spreading of the frozen product over a larger vial surface compared to batch freeze-drying. This larger surface has a positive influence on the drying time, and reduces therefore the duration of the process. Formulation and PAT research will be performed for evaluating the suitability of this continuous freeze-drying concept.