Uploaded From lab-bench to large-scale production

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In formulation development, the scale-up from a lab-bench production of small batches to a large-scale production due to a demand for bigger batches, e.g. for clinical trials or economic reasons, can often be challenging. Thus, the possibility to scale-up the manufacturing process is imperative for the success of a new formulation and should be evaluated during early stages of development. This applies to the production of nanocrystals (NC), which can be used to enhance the skin penetration properties of promising actives in the field of skin therapy, such as the flavonoid curcumin [1-3]. Curcumin is isolated from the rhizome of turmeric and acts as a selective inhibitor of the enzyme phosphorylase kinase. This leads to a positive effect on dermal wound healing after topic application with less inflammation and reduced scarring [2]. However, it shows an insufficient skin penetration, due to its poor aqueous solubility and low bioavailability [1]. Thus, the development of a suitable formulation for curcumin is crucial for its later use in therapy. After formulation development, low energy nanomilling with the NanoWitt-LAB 100 milling equipment enables an easy scale-up of the NC production in continuous operation. Therefore, it can be used as a suitable manufacturing process to determine the feasibility of a largescale production.