Zach's+Bend+Research+Reflection

Zachary Chandler

There are numerous things that can be said about Bend Research, the first being that visiting Bend Research was a blast. Thanks Carol for setting this up, it was definitely worth while so see what is being done in the advancement of medicine and locally too. I thought they did a very good job of retrofitting a house into a laboratory; I do not believe that the lab could ever be a house again due to the complexity of additions to the building, and the fact that experiments happen basically every day.

The sheer size of the NMR was amazing, and almost intimidating. I was surprised that the NMR's were $800,00 and $600,000 a piece, and liquid nitrogen needs to added regularly. I would not even want to consider that amount of power they are using daily. They have so many different experiments happening at once. Also the amount of equipment they have is substantial, the time that must of been spent to create such a company. Their electron microscopes were also very cool the magnification that can be achieved is unbelievable.

By far the best part for me learning more about the SDD Spray-Dried Dispersion polymers. The process is really neat, the SDD is a single-phase, amorphous molecular dispersion of a drug in a polymer matrix, and are obtained by dissolving drug and polymer in an organic solvent and then spray-dried. This process is very quick to reduce the time involved so the drug does not separate out or crystallize. This process also has a shelf-life of more than 2 years, which is highly beneficial to keep the drug on the shelf longer. Bend Research has formulated several hundred compounds as SDDs. That now could be awaiting drug trials. I knew about Zmax (azithromycin extended relesae) before visiting Bend Research, but I did not know that they helped to design it. Zmax is very cool because it is a liquid suspension that is taken once, instead of the normal 250mg or 500mg dosage form for 3 to 5 days. However the suspension is considerably more to manufacture than a oral dosage form, so some insurance companies do not cover it, or require a higher copay.

The amount of different pharmaceutical drug products they offer is unbelievable. They range from their SDDs, SNCDs (solid nanocrystalline dispersions), HME (hot-melt extrusion) and many more. It would be a blast to work there at Bend Research, constantly learning new things, and trying new experiments. It was really exciting to hear that Bend Research has hired around 100 new employees, and that some of they only had a Bachelor's degree, which is really very exciting. Thanks again Carol for setting this up. You are absolutely welcome! I always get a big charge out of watching my students get fired up about the instruments, and the details of the labs, when we visit. People notice and respond to things I expect them to (like the NMR or the electron microscopes) but also about little things--like monstrous Erlenmeyer flasks, or the "free drink" machine that employees get to use, or the ultimate frisbee games at lunch. But almost always people recognize that the projects they do there are interesting, that the employees enjoy the challenges of their work, and that the research business is not stuffy, or boring, or intimidating. Those are all important things to witness.

And, of course, the instruments are huge. And shiny. And they plug in.

Thanks for your thoughts!