Innovations in Orally Disintegrating Tablets for Pediatric Drug Delivery

Date: Thursday, November 16 at 11:00am ET​
Event Overview:

Ever since regulatory agencies globally mandate pediatric clinical trials for drugs intended for pediatric use, there has been a significant increase in the number of industrially sponsored pediatric clinical trials in recent years. However, pediatric drug delivery presents a unique set of challenges due to the varying physiological and developmental factors in children. Orally disintegrating tablets (ODTs) have emerged as a promising drug delivery solution to enhance medication adherence for pediatric patients due to their ease of administration, eliminating the need for water and reducing the risk of choking. This webinar aims to examine the world of pediatric dosage forms and how ODTs are emerging as a specialized drug delivery system for children, focusing on the challenges, innovations, and considerations that shape their development.

Key Learning Objectives:

• • Understand the challenges and opportunities of pediatric drug delivery
  • Learn about the different pediatric dosage forms available, how to select the most suitable dosage form for a given pediatric population, and the strategic advantages of opting for ODTs
  • Describe the unique characteristics of ODTs, including their formulation benefits, streamlined development pathways, and efficient manufacturing processes suitable for agile biopharma companies

FEATURED SPEAKERS

Afzal Mohammed, PhD
Professor of Pharmaceutics
Aston University

Afzal Mohammed is the Professor of Pharmaceutics and Associate Dean (Research Impact and Knowledge Exchange) at Aston University. He is an internationally leading scientist and a key opinion leader in particle engineering and pediatric formulation development. His research interests include the formulation development and optimization of orally disintegrating tablets, oral liquid nano medicines, particle engineering through controlled dry particle coating technology, and development of cell culture-based models. Afzal Mohammed is the lead inventor of a patented novel dry particle coating technology (WO 2016/066462 A1). He set up Aston Particle Technologies Ltd in July 2016 to industrialize the technology.

The translational interface of his research is funded by grants from various bodies including MRC, EPSRC, BBSRC and NC3R as well as pharmaceutical industry and INNOVATE UK. He has presented his research findings at major national and international conferences and was awarded Fellowship of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2017. Research from his group has led to a total of 126 publications which include research articles, review papers, journal editorials, book chapters, PhD theses, published conference proceedings and patent applications. Afzal is the founding Associate Editor of the Journal of Pharmaceutics and is on the editorial board of four other journals including Nature Scientific Reports.

Leon Grother
Formulation Manager
Catalent

Leon Grother is Formulation Manager at Catalent Pharma Solutions in Swindon, UK. He earned his BSc in Pharmaceutical Science from the University of Greenwich, London and his Masters in Industrial Pharmaceutical Science from the University of Manchester, UK. He has worked within R&D for more than 20 years, primarily on Catalent’s Zydis® ODT technology formulation and process development. During this time, he has gained expertise in freeze-drying and is a named inventor on several patents related to formulation of lyophilized dosage forms.