Spray Drying Capacity Signals Faster Paths for Poorly Soluble Drugs

Hovione, a globally integrated pharmaceutical CDMO, has opened a new 31,000-square-foot facility at its East Windsor, New Jersey campus.1 The building, known as 89 Twin Rivers, houses two GMP-ready, commercial-scale PSD-3 spray dryers and doubles the company's US spray drying capacity. The opening also closes out a $100 million investment cycle at the site and marks what the company describes as the first phase in a longer-term buildout of the campus into a broader development and manufacturing hub.

The facility operates under the campus's existing FDA registration and shared quality system, connecting spray drying directly to the site's drug substance and oral drug product manufacturing operations.1

Why Does Solubility Remain a Persistent Manufacturing Bottleneck?

An estimated 70% of small-molecule drug candidates face poor aqueous solubility, a limitation that constrains bioavailability and can stall development programs well before they reach the clinic.1 Spray drying is one of the primary tools used to address this problem, converting poorly soluble active ingredients into amorphous solid dispersions that dissolve more readily in the body. Indeed, amorphous solid dispersions continue to serve as a leading platform for handling the growing pipeline of poorly soluble compounds.

The significance of added spray drying capacity is less about the equipment itself and more about what sits around it.1 Running spray drying under the same quality system and regulatory registration as upstream drug substance work and downstream oral drug product manufacturing shortens the technology transfer process and reduces the number of handoffs a program has to survive as it moves from formulation screening toward commercial scale.

"Opening 89 Twin Rivers is more than a capacity expansion. It marks the next chapter in Hovione's legacy of more than two decades in the US," said Marco Gil and Antonio Almeida, Co-CEOs, Hovione, in a press release.1 "This investment enables us to meet growing demand while further reinforcing our global leadership in pharmaceutical spray drying."

What Does this Signal for Site Selection and Supply Chain Planning?

The East Windsor expansion is not an isolated project.1 Hovione has outlined plans to develop roughly 15 acres of adjacent property into an additional 125,000-square-foot facility over the next 5 to 10 years, with capacity for further laboratories, commercial-scale spray drying and oral drug product manufacturing. Customers will have the option to co-invest in that expansion in exchange for priority access to equipment and engineering resources.

The New Jersey investment is also positioned within a broader network strategy that includes recent capacity additions in Portugal and Ireland, part of an effort to support dual-site manufacturing and regionalized supply as companies weigh where to locate CDMO partnerships against tariff exposure and supply chain resilience concerns.1

"89 Twin Rivers is a major step forward for Hovione's US operations and a clear expression of our long-term commitment to East Windsor and New Jersey," said David Basile, vice president of Technical Operations, Americas, Hovione.

The new facility is expected to employ approximately 80 people and was formally inaugurated at a September 15 ribbon-cutting event attended by New Jersey state assembly woman Tennille McCoy,East Windsor Mayor Janice S. Mironov, and BioNJ President Debbie Hart.1 Hovione currently works with 19 of the world's 20 largest pharmaceutical companies and is involved in roughly 10% of medicines approved annually by the FDA.

What Does this Mean for New Jersey's Broader Manufacturing Ecosystem?

The East Windsor expansion reflects a trend documented statewide.2 According to the 2026 New Jersey Life Sciences Report, New Jersey ranks first nationally in pharmaceutical manufacturing employment and in FDA-registered manufacturing sites, with more than 700 CROs and CDMOs operating in the state. The report also points to New Jersey's inventory of legacy pharmaceutical campuses, which offer existing infrastructure and regulatory approvals that can shorten development timelines by 12 to 24 months and cut buildout costs by as much as 90%, advantages that continue to draw manufacturing investment to the state.

References

1. Hovione. Hovione opens new facility at New Jersey campus, doubling U.S. spray drying capacity [press release]. September 16, 2026. https://www.hovione.com/press-room/press-release/hovione-opens-new-facility-new-jersey-campus-doubling-us-spray-drying-capacity
2. Fazelpoor M. New Jersey builds on legacy of leadership in life sciences. NJBIZ. Published June 29, 2026. Accessed September 16, 2026. https://njbiz.com/new-jersey-life-sciences-report-growth/