What is LaminarPace?
LaminarPace is a unique ambient drying method for biopharmaceuticals and vaccines based on mass transfer, not heat transfer. By reducing drying stress to the active ingredient, LaminarPace uniquely enables particle-engineered, thermostable dry powder biopharmaceuticals which can be easily handled and transported and also are highly suitable for novel administration routes. The technology has been successfully applied to mRNA, peptides, proteins, antibodies, lipids and enzymes as well as excipients and adjuvants.
Mass transfer - no heat stress, no heat degradation
Unlike other pharmaceutical drying systems, LaminarPace operates by generating mass transfer, rather than heat transfer. Mass transfer is a highly efficient drying method. Our optimization tests demonstrate that following drying less than 2% of absolute humidity is left in the product.
To further understand the process, let’s follow the drying path of a single droplet of biomolecule.
Inside LaminarPace
Follow the drying path of a single droplet
A fine vaporized spray of liquid solution droplets is released in a pulse at room temperature and great speed from the nebulizer at the top of the inner drying column.
As the droplet circles downward fast-moving laminar flows of nitrogen gas circle around it.
These laminar flows quickly evaporate the outer mass of moisture that envelops the droplet’s drug material.
This moisture is transferred through the membrane to the system’s outer column, where a countercurrent of more turbulent nitrogen removes it.
The remaining particles of biologically active dry powder are collected in a powder collector at the bottom of the drying column - their moisture removed; their drug material intact.
Industrializing ambient drying
LaminarPace’s benefits extend beyond the laboratory or its use as a standalone formulation tool:
- LaminarPace is an advanced low-waste, high-yield drying system for industrial production of pharmaceuticals.
- LaminarPace is being continuously developed towards industrial integration through mechanical engineering, 3D digital modelling and cloud computing.
- LaminarPace is being developed as a system that can be tailored and integrated into existing manufacturing processes as a complete unit of industrial production - from formulation through drying to fill&finish.
Find out more about how we're using 3D modelling to develop LaminarPace for industrial integration