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Panoramic view on the North Campus © Jürgen Huhn​/​TU Dortmund
PROGRAM CLOSES DEVELOPMENT GAP UNTIL PATENTS ARE USED

Faculty Files Patents for Two Inventions – NRW Helps

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Three persons with protective clothing © Martina Hengesbach​/​TU Dortmund
Professor Gerhard Schembecker (l.), Dr. Kerstin Wohlgemuth and Claas Steenweg from the Faculty of Biochemistry and Chemical Engineering were responsible for developing the filter.
To close the development gap between the patenting of an invention and its subsequent use by science and society, North Rhine-Westphalia supports university inventions for which a patent has been filed. To do so, the state government has set up the “NRW Patent Validation Program”. Two inventions produced at TU Dortmund University will each receive up to € 200,000 from the program from January 2021 onwards, so that the inventions can be further developed and reach market maturity.

First of all, the inventions had to assert themselves against strong competition: From a total of 29 projects in the fifth round of the contest, 12 were recommended by an independent review panel, including the two Dortmund inventions. One of them centers on the development of a modular continuous vacuum screw filter (CVSF) for the solid-liquid separation of crystalline drug suspensions. This patent is the work of Professor Gerhard Schembecker, Claas Steenweg and Dr. Kerstin Wohlgemuth from the Faculty of Biochemichal and Chemical Engineering. The second invention is concerned with improving the bioavailability of pharmaceutical ingredients through the production of solid crystalline suspensions by means of a melt electrostatic precipitator. Responsible for this patent are Professor Markus Thommes, Adrian Dobrowolski and Helmut Wiggers, also from the Faculty of Biochemichal and Chemical Engineering. Both inventions thus stem from the profile area Chemical Biology, Drug Research and Process Engineering at TU Dort­mund University.

Development of a modular continuous vacuum screw filter for the solid-liquid separation of crystalline drug suspensions

Active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and fine chemicals are currently produced almost exclusively in batches. This is because the production volumes for most APIs are very small, namely only between 250 and 1,000 kilograms per year. These volumes will drop even further in the future as the development of highly specific drugs for narrowly defined target groups gains in importance, i.e. in personalized medicine. Continuous production processes are suitable for raising or maintaining product quality. Crystallization processes are often used to clean products and adjust their properties. The proverbial bottleneck here is the need for continuous solid-liquid separation, washing and drying on a small scale. The continuous vacuum screw filter for which a patent has recently been filed could be used here. The goal of the proposed project is the integration of this new and innovative process into existing equipment as well as its demonstration and subsequent use in applications in practice.

Improved bioavailability of pharmaceutical ingredients through the production of solid crystalline suspensions by means of a melt electrostatic precipitator

Many new ingredients display poor water solubility. This can be improved and efficacy increased through isolated submicron particles in a carrier matrix. The development of a melt electrostatic precipitator for the production of solid crystalline suspensions is thus above all interesting for the pharmaceutical industry. The invention is also interesting for applications where particles or droplets in a defined size are to be embedded in a melt.

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