Programme
SHORT COURSE
This course is primarily intended for those new to the subject.
Tuesday, September 16, 2025
| 13:00 – 17:00 | An Introduction to Pharmaceutical Freeze Drying - Part I Steve Nail, Greg Sacha and Robin Bogner |
Wednesday, September 17, 2025
| 8:30 – 11:00 | An Introduction to Pharmaceutical Freeze Drying - Part II Steve Nail, Greg Sacha and Robin Bogner |
CONFERENCE
Wednesday, September 17, 2025
| 11.00 – 12.30 | Conference Registration and Welcome Reception |
| 12.30 – 12.45 | Welcome and Introduction |
Materials Characterization & Equipment | |
| 12.45 – 13.15 | Serguei Tchessalov / Bakul Bhatnagar; Pfizer Nuances in Lyophilizer Characterization |
| 13.15 – 13.45 | David Debo; IMA Life The future of refrigeration in freeze drying - Environmentally responsible and energy-efficient solutions for the future |
| 13.45 – 14.15 | Alina Alexeenko; Purdue University From Blood to Cures and Back: How 20th-century History Shaped Freeze-Drying Equipment and What’s Next |
14.15 – 15.15 | Coffee Break, Posters Part I, Exhibition |
| 15.15 – 15.45 | Michael Thomas; Lyophilization Technology Inc Considerations in processing and product attributes of dual chamber devices |
| 15.45 – 16.15 | Richard Affleck; Sanofi Freeze Drying and Vial Breakage: Misconceptions, Root Causes and Mitigation Strategies for the Pharmaceutical Industry |
| 16.15 – 16.30 | Panel Discussion / Wrap Up |
| 16.30 – 17.45 | Exhibitor Presentations |
18.15 – 21.00 | Wine & Cheese Reception, Posters Part I, Exhibition |
Thursday, September 18, 2025
Process and Modelling | |
| 8.30 – 9.00 | Jean-Rene Authelin; Sanofi Obtaining heat transfer coefficients (Kv) distribution directly from mass flow measurements during the sublimation step of freeze-drying |
| 9.00 – 9.30 | Andrea Arsiccio / Brecht Vanbillemont; Coriolis Pharma Optimization and Transfer of Robust Primary Drying Protocols through Modelling |
| 9.30 – 10.00 | Marc Horner; Ansys Current Perspective on Standards and Regulatory Guidance for Computational Modeling and Simulation in Pharma |
| 10.00 – 11.00 | Coffee Break, Posters Part II, Exhibition |
| 11.00 – 11.30 | Robin Bogner; University of Connecticut Some like it hot - Microwave-assisted freeze-drying |
| 11.30 – 12.10 | Roberto Pisano/Bernhardt Trout/Thomas de Beer; Politecnico di Torino, Massachussets Institute of Technology, University of Gent Fully Continuous Modular Unit Dose Lyophilizer with PAT / GMP-compliant continuous & controlled freeze-drying of pharmaceutical products |
| 12.10 - 12.30 | Panel Discussion |
| 12.30 – 13.15 | Lunch |
| 13.15 – 14.00 | Coffee Break, Posters Part II, Exhibition |
Alternative Applications | |
| 14.00 – 14.30 | Petra Foerst / Evangelos Tsotsas; Technical University of Munich, University of Magdeburg Pore-scale resolved freeze drying: 3D imaging and pore network modeling |
| 14.30 – 15.00 | Willem-Frederik Wolkers; University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover Off-the-shelf availability of cells and therapeutic biologics |
| 15.00 – 15.30 | Stephanie Passot; AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay Affiliation Stabilization of a sensitive probiotic bacterial strain of industrial interest by freeze-drying: A multi-scale approach for the identification of markers of resistance |
16.00 | Departure for Network Event |
Friday, September 19, 2025
Regulatory, Quality, Stabilization, Formulation | |
| 8.30 – 9.00 | Evgenyi Shalaev; AbbVie A tale of ice and proteins: Tg’, mechanical stresses, and air bubbles. |
| 9.00 – 9.30 | Wolfgang Friess; LMU University of Munich Well-cared valuable treasures – protein molecules in a freeze-dried matrix |
| 9.30 – 10.00 | Axel Zeitler; University of Cambridge; Exploring lyophilized biomolecules and the effect of moisture using terahertz spectroscopy |
| 10.00 – 10.30 | Coffee Break (Upstairs) |
| 10.30 – 11.00 | Anna Fureby; Lund University Distribution of components in vacuum foam dried lipase formulations |
| 11.00 – 11.30 | Stefan Schneid; Bayer Development of a lyophilized peptide drug product and assessment of alternative freeze drying methods |
| 11.30 – 12.00 | Sajal Patel; AstraZeneca Design and Development of Dry Dosage Biologics: Challenges and Opportunities |
| 12.00 – 12.30 | Panel Discussion and Closing |
| 12.30 | Lunch |