Drug Digest: Advances in Small-Molecule Manufacturing

In this exclusive Drug Digest video interview, Felicity Thomas, Associate Editorial Director, and Patrick Lavery, Editor, Pharmaceutical Technology Group, will be tackling the topic of advances in small-molecule manufacturing with Anil Kane from Thermo Fisher Scientific. Additionally, we will also have some extra commentaries on the trends shaping the oral solid dosage market with Uwe Hannenberg from Recipharm, the manufacturing hurdles associated with challenging molecules with Jens Schmidt from Lonza, and some advice from our Ask the Expert columnists about changing excipient providers.

Interview featuring

Anil Kane, PhD, MBA, Global Head of Technical & Scientific Affairs, Pharma Services, Thermo Fisher Scientific

Dr. Kane has more than 25 years of experience in the science and business of taking molecules through the entire drug development process, spanning early-stage development to scale-up and commercial manufacturing and includes technical transfers between global sites and drug life cycle management. Dr. Kane received his Bachelors, Masters and PhD degrees from the Bombay College of Pharmacy, University of Bombay, India, and served as a post-doctoral fellow at the School of Pharmacy, University of Cincinnati, Ohio. He has also earned an executive MBA from Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario, Canada. Dr. Kane is a member of various international pharmaceutical professional organizations and is often asked to speak about scientific topics on formulation, technology and other technical aspects at major industry events. He has also published many articles in international journals and delivered many talks at meetings and conferences across the globe.

Uwe Hanenberg, Head of Product Development, Oral Solid Dose

Dr. Uwe Hanenberg, Head of Product Development, Oral Solid Dose (OSD) at Recipharm. Uwe is responsible for implementing and executing the OSD Product Development strategy that assures science driven, timely development of new products or services. Uwe has 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry with Bayer, Altana, Grünenthal and Catalent. He has held several leading positions in quality, manufacturing and packaging, product development, project management within the Science & Technology sphere. His areas of expertise are oral formulation development, oral manufacturing technologies, stick pack technologies and pharmaceutical contract services and project management.

Jens Schmidt, Associate Director of Manufacturing, Science, and Technology (MSAT) at Lonza

Jens Schmidt is the Associate Director of Manufacturing, Science, and Technology (MSAT) at Lonza. In this role, he leads a team of MSAT scientists and serves as the technology lead for high-throughput experimentation focused on small molecules.

Before joining Lonza in 2017, Jens gained valuable experience as a research associate at the University of Oxford and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). He is an organic chemist by training and holds a Master of Science in Chemistry from the University of Leipzig and a PhD from the University of Hamburg.

Susan J. Schniepp, distinguished fellow at Regulatory Compliance Associates, a Nelson Labs company

Susan J. Schniepp is distinguished fellow at Regulatory Compliance Associates, a Nelson Labs company and member of the Editorial Advisory Boards for Pharmaceutical Technology, Pharmaceutical Technology Europe, and BioPharm International. Susan is a regular contributor to the Ask the Expert print and video series and has offered thought leadership and expert insight into quality and regulatory concerns for Pharm Tech Group’s publications. She has also served as the past-chair of the Parenteral Drug Association and was previously a chair with the US Pharmacopeia.

Siegfried Schmitt, vice president, Technical at Parexel

Dr. Siegfried Schmitt is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Chartered Chemist and Chartered Scientist. He started his career with F.Hoffmann-La Roche in Basel, Switzerland, where he worked as Senior Production Chemist in Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients and Vitamin production. Following a move to the UK, he worked for several years as consultant and validation manager for Raytheon E&C, followed by two years with ABB Eutech as Senior Lead Consultant. In 2002 Dr Schmitt joined Amersham Health (now GE Healthcare) as global Quality Assurance Director in Information Management. In July 2007 he joined PAREXEL Consulting in the UK as Principal Consultant. Dr Schmitt regularly publishes articles on scientific and business subjects, and has written several books. He speaks on a variety of topics at international conferences and industry meetings.

Sponsors

This episode of Drug Digest is sponsored by:

• Adare Pharma Solutions
• Bend Bioscience
• Captisol
• Coating Place Inc
• Thermo Fisher Scientific
• Veltek Associates

About Drug Digest

Drug Digest is a tech talk video series with the Pharmaceutical Technology editors, who interview industry experts to discuss the emerging opportunities, obstacles, and advances in the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industry for the research, development, formulation, analysis, upstream and downstream processing, manufacturing, supply chain, and packaging of drug products.

Upcoming episodes

• March 2025: Strategic Partnership Updates
• April 2025: Innovations in Biopharmaceutical Development
• May 2025: Solid Dosage Formulation Trends