In this Spotlight, we talk to Development Manager, Jack Sorrell, about his career, current role and exciting changes at Upperton.
What is your career journey with Upperton?
I joined Upperton in April 2015 as a Development Scientist when the company was just a small team of four working out of rented lab spaces at Albumedix. Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to grow within the R&D department, progressing to my current role as Development Manager. In this role, I collaborate with clients on a wide range of projects, from early-stage development to tech transfer and clinical manufacturing.
Describe your educational background and how you got into the pharmaceutical industry.
My passion for science began in school and continued through sixth form, eventually leading me to pursue a master’s degree in Medicinal and Biological Chemistry at the University of Nottingham. During this course, I worked on a research project in collaboration with GSK, investigating drug candidates for the treatment of IPF. This experience solidified my interest in drug formulation, and after graduating, I started my career as a Product Development Scientist at Critical Pharmaceuticals.
How has your specialism in spray drying changed over the years?
In R&D, my work initially focused on small, lab-scale spray dryers like the Buchi B290 and Procept, focusing on things like solubility enhancement and particle engineering. However, in recent years I’ve been working more with our larger spray dryer, the Niro Mobile Minor, to help scale up and transfer spray drying processes for tech batches and clinical manufacturing. This shift has required a lot of attention to detail to make sure that our feed and spray drying conditions are optimized, so we get efficient processes on a larger scale without compromising product quality.
Another interesting development has been the growing interest in nasal powders within the industry. One of our current challenges is effectively scaling and transferring spray drying processes to produce powders that meet the desired target product profile.
What do you enjoy about working in the research and development team?
One of the best aspects of my job is collaborating with clients; I get to influence the development of their formulations and I take great pride in seeing them progress to later stages of development and clinical manufacturing.
The wide range of projects and the diversity of APIs, from poorly soluble compounds to biologics, keep the work interesting and varied. I also appreciate the opportunity to work with different formulation types, from oral tablets to nasal powders, and employ a variety of formulation techniques like spray drying.
How do you work with other departments across Upperton?
As Development Manager, I collaborate with the tech transfer, manufacturing, and analytical departments to ensure the seamless transition of development projects through to tech batches and clinical manufacturing. My role often involves writing reports and protocols that outline the developed formulations and manufacturing processes for the clinical teams to follow. I also provide technical support on these projects when needed.
What are the biggest challenges you face?
One of the biggest challenges is balancing tight development timelines while maximizing output with the time and resources available.
Which projects do you enjoy working on and why?
I particularly enjoy projects where we are actively developing new formulations and have the opportunity to collaborate closely with clients on achieving this. It’s fulfilling to see formulations I’ve worked on reach the later stages of development and ultimately being dosed into humans.
Can you describe Upperton in a few words?
A dynamic group of experts who go above and beyond for their customers.
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