Microreactor technology can help to reduce the time to market new drugs. It was applied to produce (Z)-5-benzylidenethiazolidine-2,4-dione, a heterocyclic intermediate in the synthesis of various drugs. Ethanol was the optimum solvent and piperidine the best catalyst in the batch process. The continuous/microreactor process exhibited a much better performance than the batch process. The productivity, which was strongly influenced by solvent and temperature, reached a maximum at 160 degrees C using methanol as solvent. A kinetic/thermodynamic study indicated that the reaction followed the second-order model and allowed estimating its main thermodynamic parameters. A product recovery protocol was finally proposed. The microreactor proved an efficient alternative to the batch reactor in scaling up the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients.