Freeze-drying is a fill finish operation that is commonly used to enhance the shelf life and stability of drug products. Thus far, pharmaceutical companies have paid relatively little attention to its manufacturing cost, as it was justified by the high value of the end-to-use product. Recently, however, many drugs came off patent protection, allowing the introduction of generics into the market. As a consequence, branded companies have been faced with a more competitive market, which is based on the minimum price policy. In this scenario, many pharmaceutical companies strive to enhance their production by reducing the manufacturing cost. This result is closely connected with process intensification, which aims to optimize capital, energy, and safety benefits by the development of smaller, cleaner, and energy-efficient technologies. In freeze-drying this can be achieved, e.g., through the reduction in the cycle time. In fact, freeze-drying cycles are usually longer than would be necessary.
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