Lonza Launches AI-Driven Route Scouting Service for Efficient API Production

• Lonza has launched an AI-enabled Route Scouting Service to streamline synthetic route identification for novel APIs.

• The service combines Lonza’s process R&D expertise and supply chain databases with AI technology from Elsevier (Reaxys) to provide supply chain resilient synthetic pathways .

Lonza has announced the launch of its AI-enabled Route Scouting Service, a new offering designed to streamline synthetic route identification for novel Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs). This innovative service combines Lonza’s extensive process R&D expertise and supply chain databases with AI technology from Elsevier (Reaxys).

The complexity of small molecule APIs entering the development pipeline is steadily increasing. Modern drug candidates’ intricate structures are driving an increase in the number of synthetic steps required to produce them, according to Simon Wagschal, PhD, Associate Director, Advanced Chemistry Technologies, Small Molecules R&D, Lonza. More synthetic steps can result in longer lead times and a need to manage more raw materials, increasing the time and cost of developing an effective synthesis and potentially extending the time to clinical trial readiness.

The new Route Scouting Service offering aims to address these challenges. It combines Lonza’s process R&D expertise and supply chain databases with AI-enabled computer-aided synthesis planning technology (CSPT). With access to global chemical supply chain intel and the predictive power of AI, the new offering provides synthetic pathways that are more supply chain resilient and offer insights for optimal route design on both clinical and commercial manufacturing scales.

“Robust retrosynthesis is key in creating efficient, scalable syntheses for novel drug candidates,” explained Wagschal. “Today, researchers benefit from using CSPTs with analytical search and powerful predictive capabilities.”

By integrating unique supply chain insights and predictions reflecting Lonza’s decades of experience and knowledge of clinical and commercial manufacturing, global sourcing of raw materials and intermediates, the new Route Scouting Service helps chemistry, manufacturing and control teams overcome the challenge of rising API complexity. This integrated service can provide intellectual property, reduce Cost of Goods Sold (COGS), and improve supply chain security for customers, making it a valuable addition to the CDMO and contract manufacturing landscape.