Home / Drug development / CMC and beyond / Spray Drying

Spray Drying

Symeres provides integrated spray drying services to support formulation development for poorly soluble and development-challenged small molecule drug candidates.

As part of our broader Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC) platform, spray drying is integrated with formulation sciences, analytical characterization, solid-state chemistry, and process development to help accelerate drug development from preclinical studies through Phase III clinical trials. 

Our multidisciplinary scientific teams work together within a single CMC development environment, enabling closer collaboration, efficient decision-making, and streamlined progression throughout the drug development journey. By integrating spray drying within our broader CMC platform, Symeres provides a single-source solution spanning formulation development, analytical characterization, process development, enabling technologies, and clinical-phase manufacturing. This integrated approach helps reduce operational complexity, minimize technology transfer risk, and support confident progression from formulation feasibility through clinical development. 

Capabilities include:

  • Amorphous solid dispersion (ASD) development – Support bioavailability enhancement and solubility optimization for poorly soluble small molecule drug candidates. 
  • Laboratory- and pilot-scale spray drying – Support rapid material screening, formulation feasibility studies, process optimization, and scalable process development from early formulation screening through clinical-ready material. 
  • Particle engineering – Optimize particle characteristics to support formulation development and improve product performance. 
  • Integrated analytical characterization – Support spray drying programs through the evaluation of particle morphology, particle size distribution, crystallinity, dissolution behavior, physical stability, and residual solvent control. 
  • Process development and technology transfer – Develop scalable spray drying processes that support efficient progression toward clinical development. 
  • Integrated formulation sciences – Combine formulation development, analytical characterization, solid-state chemistry, spray drying, process development and stability within a coordinated CMC framework to improve development continuity and reduce operational complexity. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What spray drying services does Symeres offer?

Symeres provides laboratory- and pilot-scale spray drying services to support formulation development for poorly soluble small molecule drug candidates. Our capabilities include amorphous solid dispersion (ASD) development, process optimization, analytical characterization, scalable process development, stability and technology transfer as part of our integrated CMC offering. 

When is spray drying used during drug development?

Spray drying is commonly used when small molecule drug candidates have poor aqueous solubility or require bioavailability enhancement. It supports formulation development by enabling advanced approaches such as amorphous solid dispersions and particle engineering. 

What are amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs)?

Amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs) are advanced materials designed to improve the performance of poorly soluble drug candidates. Spray drying is one of the most widely used technologies for producing ASDs during pharmaceutical development. 

Which compounds benefit most from spray drying?

Spray drying is particularly valuable for Biopharmaceutics Classification System (BCS) Class II and IV compounds, highly lipophilic molecules, and other development-challenged small molecule drug candidates that require bioavailability enhancement or solubility optimization. 

Does Symeres provide analytical support alongside spray drying?

Yes. Spray drying programs are supported by integrated analytical characterization and solid-state expertise. Our scientists evaluate particle morphology, crystallinity, dissolution behavior, physical stability, and residual solvent control to support informed formulation development. 

Can Symeres support spray drying through Phase II?

Yes. Symeres supports early formulation feasibility studies, IND-enabling development, preformulation,  clinical trial material support, process optimization, technology transfer, and scalable process development through Phase III clinical studies. 

Why choose Symeres as a spray drying partner?

Unlike standalone spray drying providers, Symeres integrates spray drying with API supply, form selection, formulation sciences, analytical characterization, solid-state chemistry, and process development within a single CMC environment. This coordinated approach reduces technology transfer risk, streamlines development activities, maintains scientific continuity, and enables efficient progression from formulation feasibility through clinical development. 

Your transatlantic drug development partner

Symeres support small-molecule programs from discovery through IND with openness, agility and scientific depth. Our connected teams in Europe and North America provide medicinal chemistry, computational chemistry, synthetic chemistry, and specialty chemistry services integrated with biology, ADME-tox, and CMC development.

We share data transparently, adapt quickly to new results, and stay accountable from first experiments to IND, to keep your progress clear, connected and continuous. Projects can run as standalone studies or as coordinated, multi-disciplinary programs

Integrated technologies for smarter drug development

Our (pre)clinical drug development and CMC services are closely aligned with our discovery platforms. In vitro ADME-tox, pharmacology, and solid-state chemistry are aligned to our process development and manufacturing capabilities.

This approach removes handoffs that could compromise your budget and timelines and supports regulatory filings to provide a clear path from discovery to IND.

Delivered through Exemplify

This service offering is delivered through Exemplify BioPharma, a Symeres company.

Exemplify BioPharma provides integrated CMC development expertise, supporting small molecule programmes across process chemistry, analytical development, solid-state chemistry, formulation development and clinical trial material manufacturing.

Resources we think you'll love

Webinar | On-demand

Janneke and Mandy

What Large Cell Panel Profiling Reveals About Your ADC

Explore how large cell panel profiling and bioinformatics analysis can provide deeper insight into antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) activity, selectivity and response. This on-demand webinar examines how these approaches can help identify predictive response markers, support patient selection, confirm mechanism of action and generate hypotheses around potential resistance mechanisms.
View article

Blog

DILI uncovered: from animal models to a weight-of-evidence future

DILI uncovered: from animal models to a weight-of-evidence future

Explore the science behind drug-induced liver injury (DILI), the limitations of current preclinical models, and how NAMs, in vitro systems and weight-of-evidence approaches are shaping the future of hepatotoxicity assessment.
View article

Blog

Hit Discovery, Hard Choices, and the SymeGold Library

Your Questions, Answered: Hit Discovery, Hard Choices, and the SymeGold Library

Following our webinar, The Greatest Hits: A Beginner's Guide to High-Quality Starting Points for Drug Discovery, Symeres experts answer audience questions on hit discovery, screening strategy and lead optimisation. Explore insights on carbohydrate scaffolds, natural products, library design and how the SymeGold collection supports successful drug discovery programmes.
View article

Webinar | On-demand

DILI Uncovered: How to Mitigate Hepatotoxicity Failure webinar

DILI Uncovered: how to mitigate hepatoxicity failure

Explore the challenges of predicting drug-induced liver injury (DILI) during preclinical development and discover how emerging in vitro approaches can support earlier, more informed safety assessment. This on-demand webinar examines key biological mechanisms behind DILI, current limitations in detection strategies, and evolving scientific perspectives shaping the future of hepatotoxicity evaluation.
View article

Webinar | On-demand

drug discovery starting points webinar

The Greatest Hits: A beginner’s guide to high-quality starting points for Drug Discovery

Watch this on-demand webinar to learn how to identify high-quality starting points in drug discovery and set your program up for success. Discover how early decisions around screening, chemistry, and strategy can reduce risk and accelerate progression.
View article

Blog

ADME-Tox testing in drug discovery

ADME-Tox testing in drug discovery: your questions answered

Most drug candidates fail due to pharmacokinetic and safety issues that could have been identified earlier. This Q&A explores how integrated ADME-Tox testing helps teams detect and address these risks during drug discovery.
View article

Webinar | On-demand

drug discovery and development webinar

Embracing scientific complexity to mitigate toxicity issues and development risks while advancing toward the clinic

Watch this on-demand webinar to explore how scientific depth and an integrated approach to drug development can help teams address increasingly complex development challenges more effectively.
View article

Infographics

Map your molecule’s next move with the Symeres developability roadmap

Map your molecule’s next move with the Symeres developability roadmap

Is your molecule ready for development? Explore a practical roadmap to help you identify risks, prioritise studies, and move toward IND or IMPD readiness with greater clarity.
View article

Blog

Three Signs Your Synthetic Route Will Collapse at Scale

Three Signs Your Synthetic Route Will Collapse at Scale

A synthetic route that performs well at gram scale can fail abruptly during scale-up, where heat transfer, impurity pathways and operational variability expose hidden weaknesses. This article outlines three early red flags that signal a route may not withstand manufacturing conditions — and how identifying them early can prevent costly rework.
View article

Blog

lead optimization data

Lead optimization: what data actually drive decisions?

Lead optimization often stalls not because of a lack of data, but because the available data has not been translated into clear decisions. This article explores how disciplined, decision-led lead optimization strategies help discovery teams reduce uncertainty, focus experiments, and progress programs more predictably.
View article

Blog

lead optimization

When slowing chemistry speeds programs up

This article explores how disciplined, hypothesis-driven lead optimization can produce clearer SAR, reduce development risk, and help small-molecule programs progress more efficiently toward a clinical candidate.
View article

Blog

drug development red flags series part 1

When a clean PK profile is actually a warning sign

A clean pharmacokinetics profile is often seen as a green light. But in practice, overly tidy PK data can hide analytical artefacts, non-linear behaviour, or poorly understood clearance mechanisms that surface later at significant cost.
View article

Blog

communication breakdowns

CDMO red flags you can’t ignore: Communication breakdowns

Communication breakdowns rarely start as major problems, but small gaps in coordination can quietly slow progress and erode trust in CDMO partnerships.
View article

Blog

Capacity Constraints and Resource Stretch

CDMO red flags you can’t ignore: Capacity constraints and resource stretch

Part 4: When “Too Busy” Becomes a Business Risk Even the most capable CDMO cannot deliver high-quality work if it is stretched too thin. As demand for outsourcing continues to rise across the life sciences sector, many CDMOs are operating near or beyond capacity. For pharma and biotech companies, this creates a silent but serious […]
View article

Blog

CDMO red flags you can’t ignore: Regulatory shortfalls and misalignment

Part 3: Could Regulatory Misalignment Be Delaying Your Submission? A CDMO can have the best scientists, excellent facilities, and strong technical execution, yet still fall short when it comes to regulatory alignment. This disconnect between scientific performance and regulatory readiness is one of the most damaging red flags in drug development as it could delay […]
View article

Whitepaper

5 CDMO red flags you can’t ignore: A guide for biotechs and pharma

Selecting the right CDMO is one of the most important choices a biotech or pharma team will make. The right partner helps you move efficiently toward IND or IMPD, safeguard quality, and anticipate regulatory needs before they become roadblocks. The wrong one can mean delays, rising costs, and lost momentum. At Exemplify BioPharma, a Symeres company, […]
View article

Blog

CDMO red flags you can’t ignore: Underestimating technology transfer complexity

Part 2: Why “Scale-Up” Isn’t Just a Bigger Batch Transitioning a process from discovery scale to GMP manufacturing is almost never straightforward. What runs smoothly at 100 milligrams in the lab can behave very differently at the kilogram scale. Yet too many programs falter because the complexity of this transition is underestimated or treated as […]
View article

Blog

O.N.E Symeres: A practical approach to real-world drug development

No drug development program runs perfectly. Chemistry misbehaves, funding shifts, and timelines tighten. But what defines a reliable partner is how they respond. O.N.E Symeres is the framework we use to keep projects moving through uncertainty: openness, nimbleness, and expertise.
View article

Blog

CDMO red flags you can’t ignore: Undefined or shifting project scope

Part 1: Is an Undefined Scope Putting Your Project at Risk? Selecting the right CDMO is one of the most important decisions in drug development. Yet even experienced biotechs and pharma companies can find themselves trapped in projects where the initial excitement gives way to frustration, and one of the most common culprits is a […]
View article

Whitepaper

Accelerating chemical innovation: Unveiling Symeres’ parallel chemistry

By combining automation, data-driven design, and deep synthetic expertise, Symeres is redefining how chemists generate and optimize compound libraries, bringing speed, scalability, and creativity to modern drug discovery.
View article

Webinar | On-demand

From racemic to pure the art and science of enantiomer separation

From the classical and Dutch resolution methods to preferential crystallization and deracemization, learn the best ways to obtain your desired purity!
View article

Whitepaper

IND & IMPD enabling developability roadmap

Drug discovery and development is a complex and iterative process that involves the identification, design, development, testing, and approval of new pharmaceutical drugs for use in patients. It encompasses a series of scientific, regulatory, and commercial activities aimed at discovering and bringing safe and effective medicines to the market. A key milestone in this process […]
View article

Whitepaper

Innovations in unnatural amino acids: Advancing functional diversity and applications

Unnatural amino acids enable groundbreaking advancements in drug discovery, biomaterials, and peptide design by introducing novel chemical functionalities that enhance stability, specificity, and bioactivity. This whitepaper highlights Symeres’ expertise in synthesizing unnatural amino acids, including side-chain modifications, N-functionalization, and cyclic variants, for applications in pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, and materials science. Utilizing advanced techniques like biocatalysis and […]
View article

Whitepaper

Leveraging copper-catalyzed ullmann-type cross-coupling reactions in PR&D

Our experience in overcoming scaleup challenges and harnessing the benefits of non-noble-metal catalysis makes Symeres the CRO of choice for challenging steps, such as the Ullmann reaction.
View article

Whitepaper

Managing nitrosamines in the pharmaceutical industry: A comprehensive approach

A comprehensive overview of nitrosamine risk assessment, including potential formation, scavenging, and analysis, is described here.
View article

Whitepaper

Optimizing solid-state properties and enhancing API bioavailability through physicochemical prediction

Here at Symeres, we have our new ‘Solid-State Center of Excellence’, and in this whitepaper we describe how we utilize our expertise and novel innovation to further our solid-state capabilities.
View article

Whitepaper

Stable isotope-labeled compounds

Discover how Symeres applies advanced synthetic chemistry and ADME expertise to design, produce, and study stable isotope-labelled compounds that enhance precision in drug development.
View article

Whitepaper

Unlocking the potential of high-throughput screening: Symegold library design and expansion insights

Learn how Symeres combines advanced chemistry platforms and deep discovery expertise to design and expand the SymeGold library, driving more efficient high-throughput screening and smarter hit identification.
View article

Interviews

Insights into drug discovery and development 2025

Here we interview our Director of Medicinal Chemistry, Anita Wegert, for her insights into drug discovery and development for 2025. This interview was conducted an interviewer from the Drug Discovery and Development Europe event and we were able to share our expertise. Curious how our insights can help your next project?
View article

Interviews

Interview with the computer-aided drug design (CADD) department

Our Computer Aided Drug Design department supports our clients' drug discovery projects with some of the best (predictive) software.
View article

Interviews

Meet the Organix Director, Mario Gonzalez

We are pleased to share a conversation with Dr. Mario Gonzalez, a Director at Organix, as he reflects on his journey from Argentina to Massachusetts and provides valuable career insights in celebration of his 30 years with the company.
View article

Interviews

Interview with the new Managing Director of Symeres Groningen

On October 2, Dr Melloney Dröge started in her new role as Managing Director for the Groningen site.
View article

Interviews

An interview with Yadan Chen and Paul O’Shea

We are pleased to introduce the founders of Symeres’ daughter company Exemplify in New Jersey: Yadan Chen, CEO, and Paul O’Shea, Chief Scientific Officer. Who are they? What do they stand for? And how does Exemplify fit with Symeres?
View article

Interviews

An interview with Anu Mahadevan and Paul Blundell

We proudly introduce the founders of Symeres’ daughter company Organix in Boston: Anu Mahadevan, CEO, and Paul Blundell, President at Organix. Who are they? What do they stand for? And how does Organix fit with Symeres?
View article

Blog

Crystalline and liquid crystalline 25-hydroxy-cholest-5-en-3-sulfate sodium and methods for preparing same

Organix, a Symeres company, developed scale up conditions of the synthesis of 25-hydroxy cholesterol 3-monosulfate (sodium salt) from cholesterol. After the protection of the hydroxy group (acetate) and double bond (debromination), the hydroxy group in position 25 was introduced using oxone and trifluoromethylethylketone. Then the 3-hydroxy group and double bond were deprotected, and the resulting […]
View article

Webinar | On-demand

In vivo pharmacokinetic experiments in preclinical drug development

Despite a good part of ADME research in drug discovery and preclinical development can be performed using various in silico or in vitro systems, eventually it becomes necessary to evaluate the pharmacokinetic (PK) profile in animals to elucidate in vivo DMPK properties of the drug candidates.
View article

Webinar | On-demand

Accelerating medicinal chemistry by rapid analoging

Medicinal chemistry is the art of rapidly evolving initial hits to clinical candidates via smart, information driven multiparametric optimization.
View article

Webinar | On-demand

Solid-state chemistry part II: Optimal form selection by controlled crystallization

The webinar by Dr. Edwin Aret of Symeres focuses on advanced strategies for selecting and controlling solid forms of pharmaceutical compounds through crystallization techniques.
View article

Webinar | On-demand

Route scouting for kilogram-scale manufacturing of APIs

The webinar by Dr. Martin Strack provides an in-depth exploration of the strategies and considerations involved in developing scalable synthetic routes for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs)
View article

Webinar | On-demand

Solid-state chemistry part I: Introduction

This webinar, presented by solid-state expert Edwin Aret, offers an insightful introduction to the field of solid-state chemistry.
View article