Particle Engineering Takes Center Stage as Journal Puts Drug Formulation Science in the Spotlight

A major pharmaceutical science journal is preparing to devote an entire special issue to one of the most consequential—and least visible—frontiers in modern medicine: the engineering of drug particles and the formulation science that turns promising molecules into medicines patients can actually take. The Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation has announced a special issue titled Translational Advances in Pharmaceutical Dosage Form Development Based on Particle Engineering and Formulation Science, scheduled for publication in January 2027, with a submission deadline of June 30, 2026. The issue will be guest edited by Sung-Joo Hwang of Yonsei University, Min-Soo Kim of Pusan National University, and Heejun Park of Duksung Women’s University, three Korean researchers whose institutions sit at the heart of one of the world’s most dynamic pharmaceutical manufacturing regions.

The premise behind the special issue is deceptively simple. A drug molecule may show spectacular activity in a laboratory assay, yet fail completely in the clinic because it will not dissolve, will not remain stable on the shelf, or cannot be manufactured reliably at scale. Particle engineering addresses precisely these failures. By controlling crystal form, particle size, shape, and surface properties, formulation scientists can transform a poorly soluble compound into one that dissolves rapidly in the gastrointestinal tract, or an unstable liquid into a robust solid dosage form that survives years of storage in humid climates. The special issue explicitly invites work on particle engineering approaches for solubility, stability, and bioavailability enhancement—three properties that determine whether a molecule ever reaches its therapeutic target.

The scale of the solubility problem alone justifies the attention. Industry analyses have long suggested that a large fraction of newly discovered drug candidates, particularly the hydrophobic small molecules favored in modern discovery campaigns, suffer from aqueous solubility low enough to compromise oral absorption. Techniques such as micronization and nanonization increase surface area available for dissolution; amorphous solid dispersions trap molecules in a higher-energy disordered state that dissolves more readily than the crystalline form; and co-crystal engineering pairs the active ingredient with benign partner molecules to create new crystalline phases with tailored properties. Each strategy involves trade-offs, because the same thermodynamic instability that accelerates dissolution can also invite recrystallization during storage. Navigating those trade-offs is the daily business of formulation science, and the special issue seeks contributions that show how laboratory-scale solutions survive the journey to commercial products.

That word—translational—appears deliberately in the issue’s title. The editors are not soliciting purely theoretical work. Among the listed topics are translational formulation science and the scale-up of drug products, alongside emerging manufacturing technologies in dosage form design and commercial production. The distinction matters because pharmaceutical development is littered with processes that perform beautifully in a one-kilogram laboratory mixer but behave entirely differently in a five-hundred-kilogram production vessel. Powder flow, blending uniformity, granulation behavior, and compaction mechanics all shift with scale, and a formulation that cannot be reproduced consistently at manufacturing scale is a scientific curiosity rather than a medicine. Translational formulation science is the discipline of anticipating those shifts, designing experiments that reveal them early, and building robustness into the product rather than discovering fragility during a regulatory submission.

The scope of dosage forms under consideration is correspondingly broad. The call lists oral, injectable, inhalable, and transdermal routes, among others, together with advanced drug delivery systems. Each route imposes its own particle-level demands. Inhaled medicines require particles engineered to aerodynamic diameters in the low micrometer range so they deposit in the deep lung rather than the throat, a constraint that has driven decades of innovation in spray drying and particle coating. Injectable formulations must balance particle size against syringeability, sterility, and long-term physical stability, with submicron suspensions and lipid-based carriers demanding especially careful control of crystal growth over shelf life. Transdermal systems depend on drug properties, adhesive chemistry, and membrane design working in concert to deliver a therapeutic flux through skin. Oral solid dosage forms, still the workhorse of the industry, must dissolve at the right place and the right rate while withstanding compression, coating, and packaging. A single special issue cannot resolve all of these challenges, but it can showcase the shared particle-engineering principles that cut across them.

Solid-state characterization and control form another pillar of the announced scope. The physical form of a drug—its polymorph, hydrate, solvate, or amorphous state—can alter solubility, dissolution rate, mechanical behavior, and chemical stability, sometimes dramatically. Regulatory agencies expect manufacturers to know which form they are producing, to demonstrate that the form remains unchanged through processing and storage, and to detect any unwanted transformation before it reaches patients. Modern analytical tools, including powder X-ray diffraction, solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance, differential scanning calorimetry, and vibrational spectroscopy, allow researchers to probe these states with increasing sensitivity, while computational prediction of polymorph landscapes is maturing into a practical screening tool. The special issue’s emphasis on characterization and control signals that papers documenting rigorous solid-state work will be welcome, not merely tolerated.

Perhaps the most forward-looking topics on the list are Quality by Design, universally abbreviated as QbD, and Process Analytical Technology, known as PAT. QbD is a regulatory philosophy, formalized in international guidance, that asks manufacturers to understand their products and processes deeply enough to predict how changes in inputs will affect quality, rather than simply testing finished batches and hoping for the best. PAT supplies the instrumentation: real-time sensors—near-infrared spectroscopy, Raman probes, laser diffraction monitors—embedded directly in manufacturing lines that track blend uniformity, particle size distribution, moisture content, and other critical attributes as production proceeds. Together, the two frameworks promise continuous verification of quality instead of retrospective inspection, and they enable continuous manufacturing, in which a drug product flows uninterrupted from raw powder to finished tablet. Regulators on several continents have encouraged these approaches for years, and the special issue’s inclusion of QbD and PAT applications reflects their growing centrality to both development labs and production floors.

The timing of the issue is significant for another reason. A wave of newly approved modalities—antibody-drug conjugates, peptide drugs, mRNA therapeutics, and high-potency small molecules—has strained conventional formulation toolkits, while the generic and over-the-counter sectors face relentless pressure to cut costs through smarter manufacturing. Advanced formulation strategies and emerging manufacturing technologies, the two remaining topics on the editors’ list, sit squarely at the intersection of those pressures. Hot-melt extrusion, additive manufacturing of personalized doses, continuous granulation lines, and closed-loop process control are no longer laboratory demonstrations; several are in routine commercial use, and their adoption raises questions about workforce skills, equipment investment, and regulatory review that translational research is only beginning to answer.

For researchers, the practical details are straightforward. Manuscripts are due by June 30, 2026, for a January 2027 issue, giving contributors roughly a year and a half to prepare studies that meet the translational bar. The guest editors—Hwang, Kim, and Park—bring complementary expertise from three Korean universities with active pharmaceutical science programs, and their institutions’ proximity to one of the world’s largest generic and contract manufacturing ecosystems gives the issue a plausible vantage point on industrial practice. Submissions will be handled through the journal’s standard channels, and authors are expected to frame their work in terms of the six announced topics rather than submitting undifferentiated formulation studies.

What emerges from the announcement is a portrait of a field in transition. Particle engineering and formulation science were once viewed as downstream services—work performed after the real science of discovery was complete. The language of this special issue, with its emphasis on translation, advanced delivery systems, and design-driven manufacturing, reflects a different reality: the dosage form is now a primary determinant of clinical success, and the scientists who engineer particles and processes are central to whether new therapies reach the patients who need them. Whether the January 2027 issue becomes a landmark will depend on the studies its contributors submit, but its very existence is a signal that the invisible craft of turning molecules into medicines is claiming the scientific recognition it has long earned.

Subject of Research: A special issue of the Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation on translational advances in pharmaceutical dosage form development through particle engineering and formulation science.

Article Title: Special Issue: Translational Advances in Pharmaceutical Dosage Form Development Based on Particle Engineering and Formulation Science

Article References: Special Issue: Translational Advances in Pharmaceutical Dosage Form Development Based on Particle Engineering and Formulation Science. (n.d.). Original publication

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Keywords: particle engineering, formulation science, drug delivery, bioavailability, solid-state characterization, Quality by Design, process analytical technology, pharmaceutical manufacturing, scale-up, dosage forms, Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation, special issue