Pharmaceutical technology: Drug delivery, formulation, and process research

This paper describes in the introduction the actual research trends in the area of pharmaceutical technology and the impact of FDA's PAT (Process Analytical Technology) Initiative on this research field. These new FDA requirements concerning a science-based approach in the area of pharmaceutical formulations and processes will boost this research field in academia and industry. There is a special need for a research initiative in the field of pharmaceutical powder technology, which is the basis for ca. 80% of all drug delivery systems on the market, i.e. solid dosage forms. Pharmaceutical formulations are complex systems which are difficult to model and analyse. For this purpose special tools such as the percolation theory, concept of fractal dimensions, dielectric spectroscopy, etc. are necessary. In this context, typical results obtained with these novel tools are presented.