In the present study, the effect of Hydroxy Propyl Methyl Cellulose (HPMC) on the crystallization of ortho-aminobenzoic acid (OABA) was investigated by seeded and unseeded cooling crystallization experiments. The influence of HPMC on the induction time, crystal shape of Forms I and II of OABA and the polymorphic transformation time was studied. Furthermore, the capability of HPMC to inhibit growth of Form I was evaluated quantitatively and modeled using population balance equations (PBE) solved with the method of moments. The additive was found to strongly inhibit nucleation and growth of Form I as well as to increase the time for the polymorphic transformation from Form II to I. Solvent was also found to influence the shape of Form I crystals at equal concentrations of HPMC. In situ process analytical technology (PAT) tools, including Raman spectroscopy, focused beam reflectance measurement (FBRM) and attenuated total reflectance (ATR) UV vis spectroscopy were used in combination with off-line techniques, such as optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy, Malvern Mastersizer and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to study the crystals produced. The results illustrate how shape, size and stability of the two polymorphs of OABA can be controlled and tailored using a polymeric additive. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.