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How We Operate

Research and Development

From API screening to product lifecycle management
Crystec works with clients at each stage of the product development journey, from supporting initial compound selection decisions through to re-purposing of therapeutics to extend sales in the marketplace. Typical projects undertaken include:
  • Removal of impurities and residual solvent from early experimental material
  • Enhanced polymorph screens including isolation of high pressure polymorphs which can only be found using SCF techniques
  • Generation of crystalline material and crystallisation seeds
  • Co-crystal screens to generate scalable co-crystals
  • Improving solubility through changes in particle size and morphology, solid form, stabilisation of amorphous forms, or co-crystallisation
  • Enhancing permeability through modification of particle surface chemistry or creation of composite API-enhancer particles
  • Improving retained activity and ease of reconstitution of biotherapeutics (e.g. peptides, proteins)
  • Design of particles for enhanced delivery or performance (e.g. inhaled, taste masking)
  • Reducing cost of goods through design of high-yielding, single-step processes and products requiring fewer excipients
  • Supply of GMP material for clinical trials

Innovation & Technology Development

Continuously improving the capability of the mSAS® process
Crystec invests its own resources and works in partnership with scientific partners worldwide to continuously develop the capability of mSAS® (modified supercritical anti-solvent). This work has delivered major advances, most notably in expanding the range of small and large molecule therapeutics that can be successfully processed using this technology. Examples of ongoing innovation and technology development projects include:
  • Development of fully-scalable nozzle technologies
  • Optimisation of CO2 and process flow control systems
  • Optimisation of vessel geometries
  • Crystal nucleation studies
  • Identification of a suitable scalable co-crystal template library
  • Selection of transient modification agents to enable control of particle habit
  • Evaluation of surface modification agents to reduce aggregation or promote absorption

In-House Product Development

From API screening to product lifecycle management
Crystec is investing in the development of its own portfolio of improved or repurposed generic products. Each of these products is exploiting specific advantages of mSAS® technology, whether in designing particles capable of unprecedented levels of deep lung deposition or nasal retention, or the creation of a new generation of room temperature-stable, readily-reconstituted biotherapeutic products. In all cases, the Crystec team ensures that its own activities do not conflict with the interests of its clients. Examples of products in development include:
  • The first on-demand drug treatment for urge incontinence
  • A rapidly acting therapy for Raynaud’s disease
  • A rescue therapy for menorrhagia (heavy periods)
  • A novel combination treatment for COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)
  • An improved therapeutic for ischemic stroke
  • Improved, high quality formulation of Traditional Chinese Medicine

International Operation - China

Worldwide development and tech transfer

Crystec is committed to developing improved therapeutics in all markets worldwide. Since the inception of the company, Crystec has maintained a research and development centre in China, working alongside its operations in the UK. The Crystec team has strong relationships with the Chinese government, with academia and the industry.

Nantong Crystec Pharmaceutical R&D Co. Ltd. is Crystec’s new R&D centre, established in 2021 with the support from the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (SIMM), Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Haimen government. The new site, part of the Yangtze Delta Advanced Drug Development platform, is dedicated to accelerating pharmaceutical product innovation underpinned by advanced pharmaceutical excipients and drug delivery technologies.