Freeze-drying, in the past popular in the food industry, has more
recently been adopted by the pharmaceutical industry as a standard
method for the production of stable solid preparations. Freeze-drying of
Pharmaceuticals and Biopharmaceuticals is the first book to specifically
describe this process, as related to the pharmaceutical industry. The
emphasis of this book is on the properties of the materials processed,
how effective formulations are arrived at, and how they are stored and
marketed. Beginning with a historical overview of the process,
Freeze-drying of Pharmaceuticals and Biopharmaceuticals briefly
describes the processes and equipment involved, including: the physics,
chemistry and biochemistry associated with freezing, aspects of
formulation development, primary and secondary drying; the economics and
engineering of scaling up; and, most importantly, attributes of the
dried product. It also discusses in detail the science behind
freeze-drying, such as the properties of crystalline and amorphous
solids. The book concludes with selected case studies and discusses the
future of freeze-drying, advances in alternative drying methods, and
concludes with an extensive bibliography. This book, written by a
leading expert in the field, is aimed primarily at product and process
developers in the biopharmaceutical industry and academia.
