Request Expert

Expert has almost twenty years of experience in the formulation of pharmaceuticals for controlled release delivery. This work includes drug bioavailability enhancement, tastemasking, enteric protection, tableting, colonic delivery, prevention of ingredient interaction, nasal delivery, and buccal delivery. He has employed various coating and encapsulation methods including spray drying and developed new techniques for controlling release kinetics. He co-authored a recently published two book chapters on microencapsulation of food additives, a chapter on pediatric dosage forms and formerly published a chapter in a text on coating for the series Pharmaceutical Unit Operations. He has over ten patents mainly in the area of controlled release and has lectured widely in the U.S., Europe, and Australia.


Expert has been involved in the formulation and process development for flavor and food additive microencapsulation using modified spray drying, spray chilling, pan coating, and fluid bed coating techniques. Applications have included improved particle size distributions, prevention of losses of more volatile components, improved bioavailability of nutritional supplements, prevention of ingredient interactions in storage, tastemasking of vitamin or mineral components, and stabilization of ingredients to process conditions. He has worked to build varying release kinetics into the formulations. He is familiar with most of the latest food ingredients, including the new, modified starches and uses for various gums and process aids. He has made dramatic improvements in the area of improved delivery and bioavailability of nutrition supplements, many of which are patentable.

Expert has carried out a variety of liquid encapsulation techniques (both organic or inorganic), including spray drying, spray chilling (dispersions of liquids in melts), interfacial polymerization, and urea formaldehyde resin techniques. He is familiar with and has performed each of these techniques and knows their individual strengths and drawbacks as well as many of the operational tricks that are not always readily available in the literature. He has conducted solid encapsulations using fluid bed coating, spray chilling, spinning disk coating, as well as several other techniques. Expert has co-authored several book chapters with reviews of many of these techniques. He understands the right questions to ask and knows the parameters that must be understood in order to design the proper encapsulation technique or delivery system.


Often more difficult than one might suspect, Expert has extensive experience with tastemasking. Factors such as size of dose, the nature of the taste sensation, the solubility of the particular active ingredient, the available form (powder, crystal), the need for a particular release profile, the delivered dosage form (suspension, sprinkles, fast release tablet, etc.) and the required amount of dose can all weigh into the decisions as to how to proceed with a development effort. He has experience in masking the taste of some of the most foul antibiotics, analgesics, and nutritional supplements, as well as some excipient materials.


Expert has operational familiarity with Niro, Anhydro, Bowen, and Drytec spray dryers. He has developed formulations in the laboratory and carried the formulations through pilot trials and into production. He has successfully developed formulations in the area of foods, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, nutritional supplements, agricultural chemicals, bacteria, and enzymes. Expert has modified atomizers, drying chambers, outlet configurations, etc. to successfully complete the drying development. He also developed formulations that allowed successful drying where other groups had failed to obtain a flowable or viable product. He has been invited to present this topic at industrial short courses on spray drying given in both the US and Europe.


Expert has been able to suggest new formulations or process conditions that have been implemented. Modification of techniques outside the norm were successful where on-site personnel would have sworn it was not going to work. Expert is often called on to advise whether a controlled release technique is in fact, necessary and if so provide some approaches to solving the particular problems.