Case studies and insights into an essential pharmaceutical process technology Process Analytical Technology for Pharmaceutical Freeze-Drying provides a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the currently existing techniques for freeze-drying monitoring with case studies included throughout. Innovation related to advances in freeze-drying methods (e.g. spray or continuous freeze-drying), as well as to multiplexing PAT, besides spectroscopic, impedance-based methods and thermal imaging methods, are addressed. The use of such techniques at lab-scale for process development, and at industrial scale to guarantee product quality during manufacturing, is also discussed. Strengths and drawbacks of several methods are presented in such a way that freeze-drying practitioners could identify the best solution for their own application. Sample topics explored in Process Analytical Technology for Pharmaceutical Freeze-Drying include: Temperature as a critical process parameter in pharmaceutical freeze-drying, focusing on how it is measured, interpreted, and applied to process controlDesign and function of the capacitance manometer and the Pirani gauge and the relationship between ice interface vapor pressure and ice interface a temperatureWireless sensors to monitor the freeze-drying process, overcoming some limitations of wired probes, with emphasis on those capable of measuring temperature, pressure, and vial strainMethods based on the pressure rise test (PRT) to evaluate, at first, product temperature, and then, the sublimation flux, as well as the heat and mass transfer coefficients Providing insights into an essential pharmaceutical process technology, Process Analytical Technology for Pharmaceutical Freeze-Drying enables engineers and chemists across disciplines to enable their process development and guarantee product quality through proper monitoring.
