The Dow Chemical Company and Cambrex have completed and opened the operational facility for Dow’s Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose Acetate Succinate (HPMCAS) for Drug Solubility Enhancement. The facility is an expansion of   Cambrex’s Karlskoga site, and work began in early 2013.

The facility completion and start of HPMCAS product validation marks a year-long process that began with a solubilization partnership between Dow and Bend Research, announced in October 2012. Starting early 2014, Dow will be able to commercially supply solubility enabling excipients.

“We are proud to have completed this carefully executed expansion in such a short amount of time,” said Bjarne Sandberg, managing director of Cambrex Karlskoga. “This has been a great collaboration with both the Dow and Cambrex teams focused on meeting project goals. This partnership between Dow and Cambrex further demonstrates Cambrex’s commitment to finding solutions that allow our clients to meet a market need in a timely manner.”

“We are enthusiastic about commercially bringing the first solution of our Affinisol portfolio to the market,” said Marc van Gerwen, business director for Dow Pharma & Food Solutions. “Working with Cambrex, we were able promptly address the pharmaceutical industry’s most pressing need: advancing poorly soluble APIs to become therapeutically beneficial oral drug products.”