Using an Innovative Process to Develop More Effective Medications
Matthias Hauer, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Research, Technology, and Space (BMFTR): “With the High-Tech Agenda for Germany, we are strengthening competitiveness, value creation, and sovereignty through research and technology—particularly in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. The goal is to bring research results into practical application more quickly and to strengthen innovative companies in Germany, including those in the healthcare sector. The BMFTR’s VIP+ program for validation funding enables excellent research to lead to concrete applications and—wherever possible—economic value creation and societal benefits. The VIP+ funded project MediMikroPart, with its innovative melt electrofilter, will make an important contribution to the pharmaceutical industry, to Germany as a hub for research and innovation, and ultimately to an effective and efficient healthcare system. I wish the project team every success.”
For a medication to be optimally absorbed by the body, the active ingredient it contains must dissolve well in water. However, this is often a challenge. With the help of the new melt electrostatics filter, medication particles can be evenly and gently embedded in a carrier matrix made of excipients. The carrier matrix acts as a “functional environment” that helps the active ingredient work more effectively in the body without altering its chemical structure. To achieve this, the medication particles are first produced via spray drying and then fed into the melt electrofilter. There, they are deposited in a melt that serves as the matrix once it has solidified. A novel aerosol generator also helps produce particularly small particles in the low micrometer range.
Pharmaceuticals, Food Technology, or Crop Protection
“Using our process, we have already observed a significant improvement in the dissolution behavior of poorly water-soluble active ingredients. We are pleased that, with the validation grant, we can now further develop the technology,” says Prof. Thommes, who has held the Chair of Solid-State Process Engineering at the BCI department since 2014. The new process is primarily intended for pharmaceutical applications but can also be used in food technology or crop protection.
PROvendis GmbH filed the intellectual property rights for the new process on behalf of TU Dortmund University. The patent has been granted in the U.S. since May 2025. European protection is also in place. “As we move toward commercialization, we see that our broad portfolio of intellectual property rights is a key factor in successfully securing funding,” says Prof. Thommes. His melting electrostatic precipitator has also already been successful in the state-wide funding competition “NRW Patent Validation,” receiving an initial 200,000 euros to further advance the technology’s maturity.
Support from the Very Beginning
TU Dortmund University supports inventions like this from the very beginning. The Legal Affairs Office checks whether any third-party rights are affected. PROvendis assesses the prospects of success for an intellectual property application and handles both the filing and maintenance of the intellectual property rights. TU Dortmund University covers the costs associated with these intellectual property rights. Together with PROvendis, the university also assists in identifying suitable funding programs for the further development of the invention. Throughout all these steps, the team at the Center for Entrepreneurship & Transfer (CET) continuously advises and supports researchers through the entire process.
About the VIP+ Funding Program
The “Validation of the Technological and Societal Innovation Potential of Scientific Research—VIP+” funding program of the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space invites researchers to take the first step toward creating economic value or societal application of their research results. In the process of knowledge and technology transfer, validation serves as the bridge between idea generation and application. The goal of the validation phase is to examine, demonstrate, and evaluate the innovation potential of the research results, as well as to identify potential areas of application.
