Soft Matter, Colloids, and Interfacial Phenomena Challenges in Small Molecule Pharmaceutical Product Development

Colloids science is the often associated with the study of an insoluble, space-occupying entity (i.e. particle or macromolecule) dispersed in a liquid medium. Interface science is often associated with the study of physcial interactions at solid-liquid, liquid-liquid, solid-solid, solid-gas, and liquid-gas interfaces which impact processes such as flow and wetting, as well as how these interactions impact the behavior and bulk properties of the systems in which they exist. In most cases, interfacial phenomena and colloid science are intertwined and are now, part of the broader field of ‘soft matter science’. As a student of both of these subjects, as well as the study of soft matter systems, I have viewed many of the technical challenges encountered while working on projects at GSK (often related to drug product or drug substance manufacturing) through the lens of particle-particle and particle-molecule interactions. In this presentation, I will share some anecdotes from my time in industry, as well as examples of how I have applied knowledge from the soft matter/colloids/interfacial phenomena fields to address some of the technical challenges I have encountered in small molecule pharmaceutical product development.