About Avivia
Avivia is a pharmaceutical R&D and drug product development company based at Novio Tech Campus in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. As part of Ofichem, Avivia supports clients with formulation development, reformulation, repurposing and repositioning projects, including development strategies where product differentiation or intellectual property considerations are important.
Our multidisciplinary team works on generic, branded and new drug product development projects, combining formulation expertise with in-house analytical, dissolution and excipient characterization capabilities. Excipient characterization and reverse engineering activities are supported through Excipia, Avivia’s specialist platform for excipient analysis, deformulation and reverse engineering of pharmaceutical products.
Avivia’s expertise covers medicinal product development from product evaluation to comprehensive formulation and analytical development. Our capabilities include dissolution method development, stability studies, IMPD production, CMO selection and transfer support.
This allows us to support generic drug development, life-cycle management of branded products and early development of new drug products, including NCEs.
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At a glance
| Topic | Details |
|---|---|
| Location | Nijmegen, the Netherlands |
| Focus | Drug product development and analytical R&D |
| Core capabilities | Formulation development, analytical R&D, dissolution testing, excipient characterization, reverse engineering |
| Project types | Generic products, life-cycle management, NCE/CMC development |
| Part of | Ofichem |
What we do
Avivia supports pharmaceutical development projects from early feasibility to product optimization and transfer preparation. Our services combine formulation, analytical and dissolution expertise, allowing us to connect formulation composition, product performance and development strategy.
Core capabilities include:
- Pharmaceutical formulation development
- Analytical method development and verification support
- Dissolution method development and biorelevant testing
- Excipient characterization and reverse engineering
- Stability studies and IMPD-supporting development work
- CMO selection and transfer preparation
History
Established in 2005, Avivia has built a strong reputation for flexible, science-driven pharmaceutical R&D. The company is recognized for its practical, problem-solving approach to complex analytical and formulation development challenges.
Today, Avivia supports pharma, specialty pharma, generic drug companies, academic groups and smaller drug development firms with integrated drug product development services.
Avivia’s offices and laboratories are located at Novio Tech Campus in Nijmegen, close to the German and Belgian borders.
Avivia leadership team
Lee Ayres – Managing Director
Lee Ayres is responsible for overall management of the company, strategy, marketing and business development. Before joining Avivia, Lee was CTO and co-founder of Encapson, a company specializing in coating for medical devices, where he led development of the Sono-Coat technology. Alongside being a member of the Management Team, as CTO he led the business development, sales, marketing and technical development activities. The Sono-Coat technology was acquired by LipoCoat in 2024. Lee holds a Master’s Degree in Chemistry from University of York and a PhD from the Radboud University of Nijmegen in Bio-Organic Chemistry.
Menno Wiltink – Scientific Director
Menno has more than 25 years of experience in pharmaceutical R&D, with expertise in analytical research, API and drug product characterization, troubleshooting, predictive dissolution testing and excipient characterization. Before joining Avivia, he headed the Analytical R&D department at Synthon BV and studied Analytical Sciences at the University in Amsterdam and Environmental Analysis at the Van Hall Larenstein, University of Applied Sciences. He joined Avivia as a partner in 2014 and remained co-owner until the company was acquired by Ofichem in 2025. He established Avivia’s analytical R&D CRO lab services, developed its dissolution support and method development platform, and founded Excipia for excipient characterization and reverse engineering of medicines.
Dennie van den Heuvel – Development Director
Dennie van den Heuvel has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry and is an expert in formulation development. Related topics range from preclinical development up to the market formulation including production, IP and regulatory requirements. He held different positions at Intervet/Akzo-Nobel and Synthon and has extensive experience in project management, working in and leading/coaching interdisciplinary teams (CMC, Toxicology, Clinical, Regulatory, Analytics). He is an inventor with more than 25 patents assigned to Synthon. He joined Avivia as a partner in 2014 and set up pharmaceutical R&D CRO lab services and Siloxia for silica based technologies.
Careers
Avivia is regularly looking for motivated scientists and pharmaceutical development specialists to join our team in Nijmegen. We value scientific curiosity, practical problem-solving, clear communication and a strong focus on results.
Interested in working with us? View current job openings or send us an open application.
Do you want to discuss a pharmaceutical development, analytical R&D or formulation challenge?