With over 125 years of combined experience with small-scale, fully instrumented machines, KORSCH and MEDELPHARM have entered into a strategic partnership agreement focused on offering the most advanced line of R&D tablet compression technology in the world. The combined R&D product portfolio meets and exceeds every requirement, from early-stage powder characterization and formulation development, to scale-up and production support. The new R&D line covers the full spectrum of tableting technology from single-layer to five-layer, as well as core coating. Medelpharm compaction simulators are the perfect complement to the KORSCH product line.
KORSCH and MEDELPHARM want to revolutionize the R&D segment together. The CEO’s Stephan Mies (KORSCH) and Ingrid Coyle and Bruno Villa (MEDELPHARM) talk about the background of the cooperation, the requirement for a world class R&D product line, and the vision for the future.
KORSCH and MEDELPHARM want to revolutionize the R&D segment together. The CEO’s Stephan Mies (KORSCH) and Ingrid Coyle and Bruno Villa (MEDELPHARM) talk about the background of the cooperation, the requirement for a world class R&D product line, and the vision for the future.
It was made official on January 11, 2021 – KORSCH AG is entering into an exclusive sales partnership with the French manufacturer of R&D tableting equipment, MEDELPHARM S.A.S. In the following interview CEOs Stephan Mies (KORSCH) as well as Ingrid Coyle and Bruno Villa (both MEDELPHARM) talk about the background to this collaborative venture, what is required of the joint R&D line and visions for the future.
KORSCH:MAGAZINE: Could you please start by telling us how the partnership came about in the first place.
Stephan Mies: Bruno Villa and I have been acquainted now for around fifteen years. Irrespective of any business affiliations during this period, we have kept in regular contact, met up at trade fairs, and shared a connection through our longstanding partner L.B. Bohle. MEDELPHARM engineers exciting, highly innovative products. And when we look back at KORSCH’s 100-year history, those initial successes with our EK 0 product and our enduring links with the pharmaceutical faculties of many universities, often as an exclusive supplier, then this partnership means that KORSCH is going “back to its roots” to some extent.
KORSCH:MAGAZINE: Both companies are family-run. Did that play a role in your decision to enter into this partnership?
Stephan Mies: Of course. We also have similar mid-sized business structures in common – commitment to and identification with the business are simply bigger than what you find in a large corporation. We are equals – that is important. During the course of many constructive conversations over the last few years, we have increasingly compared notes on our objectives and strategies and have realized how well our products complement one another in the global tableting market.
Bruno Villa: MEDELPHARM and KORSCH have the same, unifying standards of product quality and performance. What matters to both our companies is not just the longevity of the equipment manufactured in France (MEDELPHARM simulators) or Germany (KORSCH machines), but also good performance figures, rapid product changeover capability, including appropriate GMP-compliant cleaning as well as ease of operation. After all, not only highly qualified research assistants, but also other well-trained staff should be able to operate the equipment safely and effectively. What is the use of having the fastest car if I can’t drive it?
KORSCH:MAGAZINE: What does your partnership look like in practice?
Stephan Mies: We are starting out with a sales partnership, in other words. KORSCH will from now on handle global sales of MEDELPHARM’s products on an exclusive basis. Given our global sales and service network, that therefore makes us the go-to contractor for all potential customers. Conversely, we now have access to MEDELPHARM’s established sales channels in France and Belgium. By combining our XP 1 and XL 100 models with MEDELPHARM’s two R&D products – STYL’One Evo and Nano, this will enable us to offer the world’s most advanced tableting line for research and development applications. KORSCH’s product offering provides a seamless transition from the simulation, initial compression tests and scaling-up involving smaller batches offered by MEDELPHARM. From now on, both MEDELPHARM products are available for demonstrations, tests and for training purposes in the KORSCH Innovation Centers in Berlin, Boston/USA and at some point in the future also in Mumbai/India.
Bruno Villa: We regard it as a major breakthrough that our sales team in France is now able to offer a full range of tableting equipment from R&D to manufacturing. The STYL’One range and the XL 100 are a perfect combination. MEDELPHARM serves a niche in the tableting segment, which in turn provides a range of benefits to a broad user base.
KORSCH:MAGAZINE: What would those be?
Ingrid Coyle: Tableting simulation was regarded with skepticism in the pharmaceutical segment for a very long time. Hydraulically operated simulators were disparagingly termed expensive, oil-losing tools that were anything but user-friendly and the sole preserve of a scientific elite. We at MEDELPHARM – with both mechanical and software development roots – saw this problem as an opportunity to create a user-friendly device that benefits from both the flexibility that computers provide and from the stability offered by mechanical tablet presses. There is a massive amount of optimization potential lying dormant in the R&D segment, which we can leverage using precision smart simulation software. Our STYL’One Nano is an attractive entry-level product that adds sustainable value to any institution’s or company’s R&D department.
Stephan Mies: In essence, tableting has not really changed since its emergence as an industry. But these digital technologies now enable us to go into much greater detail. For example, formulations need to be developed on a small scale first of all. Simulating a tablet’s properties when a combination of active ingredients and excipients is being newly formulated saves time and money. Furthermore, the interaction between our products enables the issue of active ingredient dispersion, for example, to be examined even more effectively. Last but not least, prior simulation makes the key process of validating formulations much faster and more reliable.
KORSCH:MAGAZINE: How complex is machine operation?
Ingrid Coyle: A key component of our corporate identity as a service provider is training people to operate our equipment in our “Science Lab”.
Without wanting to go into every detail about the Science Lab’s technical facilities, we would instead like to emphasize that our scientists and lab technicians are perfectly placed to conduct particle characterization analyses and to test formulations. After all, I not only have to be able to operate the equipment, but also need to know how to interpret the data collected and put it to productive use. In early stages of formulation development that can provide important information about what modifications still need to be made to the product, in order to manufacture it safely and efficiently.
Stephan Mies: But it also allows me to draw some conclusions about my future choice of tableting equipment: which fill system, which compression forces, which turret speed etc. The baseline data for the simulation originates from empirical data obtained from common makes of tableting machine, including KORSCH products.
KORSCH:MAGAZINE: What projects have you got planned for the future?
Bruno Villa: MEDELPHARM plans to keep on enhancing current tableting R&D technologies. One example: we will meet growing demand for “containment” solutions for our STYL’One Evo and Nano models, which will be available in 2021 in line with our strategy of “making highly innovative technologies accessible to a broad audience”.
Stephan Mies: The market will definitely comprehend the rationale behind our partnership and the associated benefits for customers. We will emphasize this through joint appearances at seminars, pharma forums, and trade fairs. We will gradually extend our partnership to include other areas as well. With MEDELPHARM at our side, we will be gaining further insights into innovating and enhancing products and formulations – and our customers will benefit directly from these efforts. MEDELPHARM’s data acquisition and analysis work complements our products superbly and the tablet behavior data collected is the key to scaling up at a later stage. Customized forms of medication all the way through tablet pressing will be a topic of interest in the near future. For example, Amazon recently announced that it wanted to enter the online pharmacy market. Given the consumer knowledge that such a corporation possesses, that could really energize the industry. So, it’s worth our while to keep on questioning established manufacturing methods in that respect.
This R&D product line covers the full spectrum of feasibility, formulation development, with simulated scale-up and high-speed production. With both single and multi-layer capability, the R&D product portfolio is the perfect complement to the KORSCH portfolio of production presses. The STYL’One Evo offers the capability to simulate all high-speed production presses to predict product performance with minimal material quantities.
The KORSCH XP 1 research tablet press is the successor of the legendary EK 0. This single punch machine is specifically designed to permit initial feasibility, screening, and solid product characterization with minimal material quantities. The XP 1 offers a proven, rugged, and portable design, which insures precision operation over the long term.
Technical highlights
Standard and high containment executions
The compact and portable STYL’One Nano is a revolutionary benchtop compaction simulator, which is ideal for small material quantities. An integrated data acquisition and analysis system offers a simple and powerful tool for material characterization. A unique drive system permits a range of standard compression profiles, including the ability to replicate precompression and main compression on a small rotary tablet press.
Technical highlights
The STYL’One Evo is the most advanced compaction simulator in the world. With the capability to replicate any high-speed production press, the STYL’One Evo offers unlimited flexibility, including single-layer, multi-layer, and tablet-in-tablet formats. A GMP Production module permits the production of small clinical batches, complete with force monitoring, tablet rejection, and audit trails. The system can work in a punch displacement mode like any rotary press, or with given compression force targets to accelerate the execution of compression profiles.
Technical highlights
The KORSCH XL 100 is a small scale, portable rotary press that is the ideal tool for the product development, scale-up, and clinical production. An exchangeable turret with 8, 10, and 12-stations accommodates all tablet sizes, and a combination of quick-disconnects and smooth surfaces permit fast cleaning and changeover.
Technical highlights
All machines from our R&D line can be fully instrumented to measure press forces and punch displacement during the compression cycle, and are equipped with a comprehensive data collection and analysis software that will allow researchers to:
Data collected during compression cycle may be directly correlated with the physical parameters of the tablets produced, and the software capability supports a wide range of related calculations reports, and graphs, to support material characterization and formulation development. In addition, the software permits the export of raw data to Microsoft Excel to support more customized analysis.
In addition to the data acquisition and analysis capability offered with the equipment, our team of experts can assist with the understanding and evaluation of the results, and help draw appropriate conclusions for any application:
Our team of scientists in our global INNOVATION CENTERS have been supporting customers through collaboration on tableting projects for decades. Our mission and passion is problem solving and helping accelerate product development and process optimization. Our international network of tableting experts and fully equipped laboratories are available to support early API characterization formulation development, and scale-up to high-speed production.
If you would like to be kept up to date on new KORSCH / MEDELPHARM products or be invited to online events regarding our technology, please fill out the form below. Thank you for your interest.
KORSCH AG and MEDELPHARM share a common passion for unique innovation, customer service, outstanding quality, and product reliability, and we are confident that our combined product line will be extremely well received in the market.
To support worldwide distribution, KORSCH will offer the full combined R&D product portfolio on a global basis with the exception of France and Belgium. In these countries, MEDELPHARM has exclusive rights to distribute the combined R&D product line, as well as the full range of KORSCH production equipment, in addition to its current representation of LB Bohle and other complimentary technology brands.
In the dynamic and creative German capital, and with a clear commitment to quality “Made in Germany”, KORSCH has been developing and manufacturing world class tablet compression equipment since 1919. Honoring tradition and innovation, KORSCH has had the courage to think beyond proven technology and to continually advance the state-of-the-art.
MEDELPHARM is an international enterprise passionate about designing and manufacturing straightforward, robust and reliable equipment for R&D specialists. MEDELPHARM stands for a symbiosis of intimate understanding of powder behavior with mechanical and electronic excellence. R&D instruments made by people for people.
Berlin, Germany – KORSCH AG – the global leader in tablet press technology, offering solutions for product development, scale-up, high-speed production, multi-layer, mini-tablet, and WIP/high-containment applications – has announced a strategic partnership with MEDELPHARM, the global leader in the development of compaction simulator technology, to introduce a new portfolio of equipment geared to R&D-stage production. The collaboration includes a joint microsite dedicated to the new R&D lineup: www.r-d-in-focus.com.
Leveraging the companies’ combined 125-plus years of experience with small-scale, fully instrumented machines, the R&D product portfolio addresses and overcomes longstanding challenges, from early stage powder characterization and formulation development to scale-up and production support. The combined KORSCH-MEDELPHARM R&D product equipment lineup includes:
Covering the full spectrum of tableting technology from single-layer to five-layer as well as core coating capabilities, the new R&D product equipment portfolio serves as a versatile complement to KORSCH’s multi-layer production machinery. Notably, the STYL’One Evo offers the ability to simulate all high-speed production presses to predict product performance with minimal material quantities.
Like the MEDELPHARM Science Laboratory in Lyon, France, the KORSCH Innovation Centers in Berlin and Boston have installed the STYL’One Evo and STYL’One Nano machines for demonstration, testing and, by simulating the full range of KORSCH production equipment, product trials with predictive results. The facilities in Lyon and Berlin also are offering contract services including formulation optimization, powder analysis, and material characterization.
MEDELPHARM is the designer and proprietor of STYL’One hardware and software technology. Under the agreement, MEDELPHARM equipment and software will continue to be designed, developed, and manufactured in Lyon, France. With an existing global customer base of nearly 200 machines, MEDELPHARM STYL’One technology will be supported by the KORSCH global technical service network with OEM spare part inventories in Berlin and Boston.
To support worldwide distribution, KORSCH will offer the fully combined R&D product equipment lineup on a global basis with the exception of France and Belgium. In those countries, MEDELPHARM has exclusive rights to distribute the new line, as well as the full range of KORSCH production equipment, in addition to its current representation of LB Bohle and other complementary technology brands.
About KORSCH AG
Founded in 1919 in Berlin, Germany, KORSCH AG has a 100-year tradition and commitment to innovation. As the only true specialist in the tablet press market, KORSCH focuses solely and completely on the advancement of tablet press technology for pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, food, confectionary, technical, and chemical products. The result is generations of experience developing the broadest, most innovative tableting equipment portfolio in the world. In operation worldwide, KORSCH tablet presses are supported by a global network of sales and technical service specialists. For more information, visit www.korsch.com.
About MEDELPHARM
Founded in 1985 in Lyon, France, MEDELPHARM has over 35 years of experience in the tableting sector. Among other initiatives, the precision engineering company designs and manufactures research & development compaction simulators, and provides innovative solutions for powder analysis and formulation support.
Staffed by a dedicated team of scientists and technicians, the MEDELPHARM Science Lab performs trials with predictive results and supports its customers with formulation and powder characterization challenges. In addition, MEDELPHARM Distribution also represents a range of solutions in powder processing, from R&D to production.
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KORSCH AG
Nerea Arcaraz
Marketing Manager
KORSCH AG
nerea.arcaraz@korsch.de
KORSCH AG
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