Nanoform Highlights CESS Benefits Versus Spray-Dried ASDs
According to the company, its commercial-scale nanoparticle manufacturing technology could reduce production costs and solvent use while increasing drug loading.
Finnish medicine performance-enhancing company, Nanoform, has announced that its controlled expansion of supercritical solutions (CESS) technology has reached what it calls a cost leadership position compared with the current industry preferred technology, spray-dried amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs). The company has reported, in a Sept. 22, 2026 press release (1), that its CESS platform delivers economical, formulation, and environmental benefits and has the potential to become a next-generation development solution for industry.
“Historically, pharmaceutical companies have accepted trade-offs between performance, sustainability, and cost. CESS demonstrates that those trade-offs are no longer necessary,” said Christian Jones, Chief Commercial Officer, Nanoform, in a company press release (1). “Based on recent business intelligence we believe that Nanoform’s CESS® process is now significantly more cost effective than either European or US based spray dried dispersions and potentially even below Asian low-cost spray drying.”
Spray-dried ASDs are currently used to address the poor solubility of small-molecule drugs and improving bioavailability; however, the process can involve large quantities of polymers and organic solvents, and complex downstream processing. Nanoform argues that CESS can deliver comparable drug exposure with a simpler formulation and manufacturing process.
The company has developed its new method for producing nanocrystalline drug particles over the course of a decade, scaling it up from laboratory scale into a manufacturing platform capable of producing kilograms of material per hour and supporting multi-ton annual production. On cost, Nanoform points to high process yields, lower investment requirements, reduced excipient use and simpler downstream processing.
Nanoform specifies that these factors make CESS more cost-effective than spray-dried dispersions manufactured in Europe or the U.S., and potentially cheaper than low-cost spray drying in Asia. The company also highlights potential environmental benefits, with CESS using recycled pharmaceutical-grade carbon dioxide as it's processing medium to reduce solvent and raw-material consumption (1).
Higher drug loading could offer a further advantage. In the nanoenzalutamide program (2), Nanoform reports increasing drug loading from 12% in a marketed ASD benchmark to 40% in a CESS-produced formulation. The company says this could enable smaller dosage forms and reduce the number of tablets patients need to take.
“Spray drying transformed formulation development over the past 20 years,” Jones added in the press release (1). “We believe CESS represents the next generation: at least comparable performance, higher drug loading, more sustainable and competitive economics in a single platform.”
References
Nanoform. Nanoform’s CESS Technology — a Cost Leader vs Spray-dried Amorphous Solid Dispersions (ASDs). Press Release, Sept. 22, 2026.
Nanoform. Nanoform Starts Pivotal Human Bioequivalence Studies of Nanoenzalutamide. Press Release, June 12, 2025.