Crystalline Modifications of Drugs – Challenges, Opportunities, Adventures and Lessons Learned
1 September 2022
About speaker

Dr. Christoph Saal
Christoph Saal studied chemistry at the Technical University of Darmstadt with a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry. Currently, he holds a position as the Director of Site Management - Analytics Healthcare at Merck KGaA. In 2018, he accomplished his habilitation and received the Venialegendi in pharmaceutical technology at Goethe University (Germany). Christoph is a member of EDQM expert groups for spectroscopic methods as well as an editor of the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Abstract
Today, solid-state properties of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) play an important role in pharmaceutical research and development as it has a key impact on parameters such as bioavailability, manufacturability and stability. This was not always the case. Much awareness for this topic has been caused by the so called “Ritonavir” case, which almost ended up in a disaster for one of the first anti-HIV drugs in the early 90th. Since then much scientific knowledge has been obtained and solid-state form screening, selection and development has been introduced in a systematic way in pharmaceutical research and development. Despite of this, still today unexpected things happen which can be challenging. The lecture will provide an overview of how this systematic approach has developed and also show unexpected surprises.