LyoVial provides contract lyophilization services in Canada for teams that have outgrown a benchtop dryer but aren’t ready for commercial-scale manufacturing. We handle formulation, cycle development, and pilot-batch vial freeze-drying for diagnostics, biotech, and specialty research groups — the projects that fall into the gap most CDMOs would rather not touch.
Request a Feasibility Quote →
LyoVial is a Canadian contract lyophilization company built around one clear idea: pilot-scale, vial-format freeze-drying done properly. We take on the projects that fall in an awkward gap for the big CDMOs — too small for their minimums, too critical for a benchtop unit in your own lab.
Our clients are diagnostic assay reagent manufacturers, calibrator and control producers, microbiology media and supplement suppliers, analytical testing laboratories, university and institutional R&D groups, and cosmetic ingredient formulators. What they have in common is a formulation that needs a locked, reproducible lyophilization cycle, and a partner who'll tell them plainly what will and won't work.
We're part of the Evik Diagnostics group of companies. Freeze-drying process expertise across diagnostic applications isn't a bolt-on service for us — it's what the group has been built around. If you've been looking for contract lyophilization services in Canada from a specialist rather than a generalist CDMO, that's the space we sit in.
Learn About QualityThree services that follow the natural sequence of a lyophilization project: work out the formulation, lock the cycle, then produce the pilot batches. Each stage is documented so it can transfer cleanly to your own operation, or to whoever manufactures for you next.
Our lyophilization cycle development services start from your existing liquid formulation — or help you build one from scratch — then design and optimize a freeze-drying cycle around it. Every stage, from excipient selection to a final, reproducible process, is documented.
Once a cycle is set at feasibility scale, we scale it up to pilot-batch size. Every parameter is documented as it moves from a handful of vials to a full pilot run.
Small and mid-size pilot runs of lyophilized vials for R&D, product launch, validation studies, and early commercial supply. Glass vial formats sized to your product. Documented, consistent, run-to-run — the vial lyophilization service most bench-scale programs step up to next.
The teams that come to us usually share one of a handful of profiles. If your work falls outside these and involves a lyophilized product, get in touch anyway — we'll tell you plainly whether we're a fit.
Diagnostic reagent lyophilization services for teams across Canada — freeze-dried enzymes, oligos, and detection reagents for IVD kits and lateral-flow assays. We take the reagent from cycle development to pilot vial batches, documented to transfer cleanly to your next manufacturer.
Calibrator and control lyophilization services for QC material producers across Canada — freeze-drying that keeps assigned values stable, holds vial-to-vial uniformity, and reconstitutes the same way every time. We take the material from cycle development to documented pilot vial batches ready for value assignment and transfer.
Freeze-dried culture media, supplements, and enrichment components in vial format — developed so they rehydrate cleanly and perform the way the wet product did.
Freeze-dried reference materials, standards, and stabilized reagents — developed for homogeneity, stability, and reconstitution accuracy, with documentation testing labs can stand behind.
Freeze-drying for academic and hospital labs — biospecimen library preservation, one-off formulation work, and small research batches, handled by a specialist so your team doesn't have to become one.
Freeze-dried cosmetic actives, single-dose beads, and stabilized botanicals for premium skincare — cycles developed to preserve peptide, protein, and botanical potency in an elegant format.
There are only a handful of lyophilization companies in Canada that will take on pilot-scale work. Here's what separates us from the ones that will — and from the big CDMOs that won't.
Most freeze drying services will run whatever cycle you hand them. We start with the formulation — because a bad cycle on a mismatched formulation costs you a batch, and you rarely find out until reconstitution. Fixing it at the formulation stage costs a fraction of what fixing it at pilot scale does.
We deliberately stay at the pilot batch level. That means your project isn't the smallest thing on the floor, and it isn't being fitted around a commercial run. If your product has outgrown pilot volumes, we'll help you scope what a scale-up partner needs from the work we've already done together.
Excipient selection, cryoprotectant screening, and thermal characterization done up front — so the cycle you lock in actually holds through scale-up and long-term stability.
Batch records, cycle parameters, and process notes structured for technology transfer from day one — so the process moves cleanly to whoever manufactures it next.
"We came to LyoVial after a botched cycle at a general CDMO cost us a full batch of calibrator. They rebuilt the formulation, locked a proper cycle, and handed over documentation the next manufacturer accepted without a single question. That's the standard we've held every partner to since."
"The other quotes we got treated our pilot batches as a scheduling headache. LyoVial treated the freeze-drying cycle as the actual problem. Straightforward answers, realistic timelines, and a cake we could reconstitute the same way every time — which is the entire point."
Every contract lyophilization project follows the same four-stage process — from the first feasibility conversation through documented pilot batches. Each stage is signed off before the next begins.
LyoVial is based in Kanata, Ontario, in the Ottawa area. We work with clients across Canada — from British Columbia biotech labs to Atlantic diagnostic manufacturers — with courier-shipped materials moving between our facility and every province.
If you're doing biotech work in Ottawa or contract manufacturing anywhere in Ontario, we're an easy on-site visit. For everyone else, we run the same conversation over video, and material moves by overnight courier with cold-chain handling where the product needs it.
On-site meetings and facility visits welcome
Full local service, same-day courier for most projects
Standard courier turnaround, no additional lead time
Possible on a case-by-case basis — ask
Things buyers ask us most often before a first call. If your question isn't here, send it — we'll answer plainly.
Tell us about your formulation, target batch size, and timeline — even if you're not sure yet whether lyophilization is the right approach. A short feasibility conversation costs nothing, and it's the fastest way to find out whether we're a fit.
