Crystal Pharmatech Deploys Asia's First Industrial MicroED Platform, Unlocking New Frontiers in Drug Development

SUZHOU, China – April 16, 2026 – In a move poised to reshape the landscape of pharmaceutical research, Crystal Pharmatech announced this week it has become the first company in the Asia-Pacific region to deploy a dedicated industrial platform for Microcrystal Electron Diffraction (MicroED). The installation of the ELDICO ED-1 diffractometer at its Suzhou R&D headquarters marks a pivotal step in transforming a highly specialized scientific technique into a high-throughput tool for global drug development.

This strategic collaboration with Swiss technology firm ELDICO Scientific AG equips the contract research and manufacturing organization (CRO/CDMO) with unprecedented capabilities to analyze the atomic structure of drug molecules. By making this advanced technology available to its global partners, Crystal Pharmatech is addressing a long-standing bottleneck in the pharmaceutical industry, promising to accelerate timelines, reduce risk, and ultimately lead to the creation of safer, more effective medicines.

The Nanocrystal Revolution

For decades, a fundamental challenge in drug development has been the process of crystallization. To understand a drug molecule's properties—such as its stability, solubility, and how it will behave in the body—scientists must determine its precise three-dimensional atomic structure. The gold standard for this has long been X-ray crystallography, a powerful technique that requires growing single, high-quality crystals often larger than 50 micrometers.

However, many promising drug compounds are notoriously difficult to crystallize, yielding only tiny, imperfect nanocrystals or fine powders that are far too small for conventional analysis. This hurdle can delay or even derail the development of potentially life-saving therapies. MicroED technology shatters this limitation. By using a focused beam of electrons, which interact with matter far more strongly than X-rays, MicroED can determine high-resolution structures from crystals a billionth of the size required for traditional methods.

While MicroED has existed in academic circles using adapted transmission electron microscopes (TEMs), the ELDICO ED-1 represents a paradigm shift. It is the world's first dedicated electron diffractometer, purpose-built from the ground up for industrial applications. Designed for automated, 24/7 operation, the platform streamlines data acquisition and delivers highly reproducible results, effectively converting a complex, expert-dependent experiment into a scalable, routine analytical procedure.

A New Edge in Pharmaceutical Development

The industrialization of MicroED provides a powerful new toolkit for tackling some of the most complex challenges in solid-state chemistry. With the ED-1 integrated into its workflows, Crystal Pharmatech can now offer its partners a suite of enhanced services that provide deeper structural insights faster than ever before.

These capabilities include the direct determination of crystal structures, including the absolute configuration of chiral molecules, directly from sub-micron powders. This is critical for comprehensive polymorph screening—the process of identifying all possible crystalline forms of a drug, each of which can have dramatically different properties. The platform's ultra-high sensitivity also allows for the detection and structural identification of trace polymorphic impurities at the single-particle level, a crucial step for ensuring product quality and consistency.

"Integrating the ELDICO ED-1 into our platform represents a major step toward making MicroED a routine tool in pharmaceutical development," said Alex Chen, Co-founder, Chairman & CEO of Crystal Pharmatech. "A long-standing aspiration in solid-state science—to determine the crystal structure of every polymorph—is now becoming increasingly achievable. Leveraging our deep expertise in crystallography and solid-state research, we will integrate the ED-1 into routine polymorph, salt, and cocrystal screening workflows, with the goal of elucidating the structure of every form identified."

This ability to map the complete solid-form landscape of a drug candidate provides a robust foundation for intellectual property protection and informed decision-making throughout the chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC) development process.

Shifting the Global R&D Landscape

Crystal Pharmatech's investment is more than a technological upgrade; it is a strategic move that signals the Asia-Pacific region's growing prominence as a hub for cutting-edge pharmaceutical innovation. By being the first to deploy this industrial-grade platform in the region, the company establishes a significant competitive advantage and makes its Suzhou facility a key destination for global pharmaceutical companies seeking advanced analytical solutions.

The collaboration builds on an established partnership between Crystal Pharmatech and ELDICO Scientific, the Basel-based pioneer of dedicated electron diffraction. ELDICO's strategy involves placing its technology in the hands of key industry leaders who can maximize its potential and drive widespread adoption. This partnership serves as a powerful validation of that approach.

"Crystal Pharmatech is an ideal partner to bring MicroED into industrial practice," commented James Berwick, CEO of ELDICO Scientific AG. "Their deep expertise in solid-state science and strong track record in supporting global pharmaceutical development uniquely position them to unlock the full potential of the ED-1 platform."

This synergy between a technology innovator and a leading service provider is set to expand access to industrial-grade MicroED for a broad range of clients, from small biotech startups to large multinational pharmaceutical corporations, leveling the playing field for structural analysis.

From Niche Science to Industrial Standard

The transition of MicroED from a niche academic technique to a standardized industrial tool marks a significant inflection point for the pharmaceutical industry. While other solutions exist that adapt general-purpose electron microscopes for diffraction, the introduction of a purpose-built, automated platform is the key to achieving the scale, reliability, and ease of use required for routine industrial workflows.

This advancement is also expected to have a substantial impact on regulatory affairs. The detailed, high-resolution structural data generated by the ED-1 provides the kind of robust characterization that regulatory bodies like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), European Medicines Agency (EMA), and China's National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) increasingly demand. By providing unambiguous evidence of a drug's solid form, purity, and stability, this technology helps de-risk regulatory submissions and strengthen the overall quality argument for a new drug product.

As Crystal Pharmatech begins offering these services to its global client base, the adoption of dedicated MicroED is expected to accelerate. By filling a critical gap in the analytical toolkit, this technology does not replace traditional methods like X-ray diffraction but powerfully complements them, ensuring that no stone is left unturned in the quest to understand and optimize new drug molecules.