European consortium demonstrates continuous manufacturing platform for pharmaceutical ingredients
pharmafile | September 7, 2026 | News story | |Â Â European PIPAC consortium, continuous manufacturing platform, supply-chain resilienceÂ
A European consortium has demonstrated a continuous manufacturing platform for pharmaceutical active ingredients (APIs), combining continuous-flow chemistry, real-time analytical monitoring and AI-driven process control.
The PIPAC consortium – comprising De Dietrich, Alysophil, Bruker and Novalix – says the pilot could support more flexible pharmaceutical manufacturing and contribute to supply-chain resilience by providing an alternative to traditional batch production.
Their technology was validated through the continuous-flow production of fentanyl, a tightly regulated pharmaceutical active ingredient. PIPAC says the demonstration showed that the platform could cope with challenging manufacturing conditions. It also maintained the pilot provided a basis for applying the approach to other pharmaceutical ingredients.
Traditionally, API manufacturing is based primarily on batch processes, where production is carried out in discrete stages with scale-up often requiring significant time and resources. By contrast, continuous manufacturing enables synthesis and monitoring to take place throughout production, with process parameters adjusted as manufacturing proceeds.
The PIPAC platform combines continuous-flow synthesis with real-time analytical monitoring and automated process control, which the consortium says this could allow manufacturers to identify changes in product quality or process performance earlier, while reducing scale-up risk and potentially improving resource efficiency.
As this approach could also support smaller, modular manufacturing units, it might potentially enabe greater regional flexibility in pharmaceutical production. This issue is of growing interest as manufacturers and governments have sought to strengthen supply chains following recent disruption and concerns over the geographical concentration of the production of API and products.
The four partners contribute separate elements of the platform: Novalix developed the continuous-flow synthesis route; Bruker provided analytical technology for real-time process monitoring; Alysophil contributed AlchemDrive, an AI-based process-control platform designed to analyse production data and adjust manufacturing parameters during the process, and De Dietrich developed the industrial hardware and automation architecture integrating the different components.
PIPAC says the successful demonstration provides a foundation for developing GMP-compatible continuous manufacturing systems. The platform could also be extended to downstream operations including filtration, purification and drying, although these elements were not part of the reported demonstration.
Frédéric Guichard, Group Executive Director at De Dietrich, added that the project demonstrated the potential to rethink pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing in response to supply-chain resilience, production sovereignty and the need for greater flexibility.
