Ardena has invested in a new compaction simulator at its Ghent, Belgium, facility to accelerate tablet formulation development and reduce the amount of drug product required for manufacturing trials.
The CDMO has installed the KORSCH STYL’ONE Evo, a technology platform that replicates the compression profiles of industrial rotary tablet presses.
The system enables scientists to assess powder properties, optimise tabletting processes and establish scale-up parameters using small quantities of material.
The investment will allow Ardena to evaluate formulations earlier in development, helping identify potential manufacturing challenges before transferring processes to one of its global manufacturing sites.
“Drug development is under constant pressure to be accelerated and use less material in research to maximise efficiency,” said Ian Bilodeau, Global Head CDMO at Ardena.
He added that the technology would enable the company to screen tabletting processes rapidly and generate valuable data using limited quantities of drug product.
Oral solid dosing is still seen as a primary choice for drug developers and by having access to this technology gives us the opportunity to optimise processes and advance projects into the clinic as rapidly as possible.
Reducing tablet scale-up risks
The STYL’ONE Evo simulates production-scale compression conditions, allowing formulation scientists to investigate how powders and blends behave under different manufacturing parameters before moving on to larger equipment.
According to equipment manufacturer KORSCH, the system can help identify common tablet defects, including capping, lamination and sticking, while supporting the development of robust formulations and more reliable technology transfer.
This early-stage assessment can reduce the risk of repeat batches, material waste and delays during scale-up.
Ardena said in its statement that the investment reflects the continued importance of oral solid dosage (OSD) forms in pharmaceutical development.
By optimising tablet manufacturing processes with limited material, the company aims to help customers advance drug candidates towards clinical development more efficiently.
The simulator has been installed at Ardena’s Ghent headquarters, which serves as its hub for solid dose drug development.
The site employs more than 100 people and also houses the company’s CMC Regulatory team, which supports customers from preclinical development through clinical manufacturing.
Building development capabilities
The investment follows a series of developments at Ardena in 2026 as the company continues to strengthen its international operations and specialist pharmaceutical services.
In April, Ardena opened a new bioanalytical laboratory in Somerset, New Jersey, expanding its North American capabilities for preclinical and clinical studies.
The laboratory provides analytical services for small and large molecules, including liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and immunochemistry.
The company has also advanced its work in nanomedicine, supporting PharmaResearch’s anticancer candidate PRD-101 towards Phase I clinical development following FDA clearance of its investigational new drug application in March.
The new compaction simulator adds another capability to this offering, targeting a critical stage in developing OSD medicines: translating laboratory formulations into scalable manufacturing processes.
