Delivering impact in pharmaceutical research and education
Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) recently won two awards at the Pharma Industry Awards 2017. The awards went to WIT’s BSc (Hons) in Pharmaceutical Science and the Pharmaceutical and Molecular Biotechnology Research Centre (PMBRC)
The PMBRC was shortlisted in two categories, the ‘Pharma Research Centre of the Year’ and ‘Research and Development Achievement’, winning the latter. PMBRC is an applied research centre which aims to support the sustainable growth of the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry in the south east of Ireland. PMBRC Manager, Niall O’Reilly said of the win: “We are delighted to win the Research and Development prize at the Pharma Awards. We have been working to build up the research capability in the pharmaceutical sciences in WIT for the past decade. To be recognised by our peers for our research achievements means a lot to everyone involved here.”
Dr Colin Dillon was also recently awarded his PhD for research in the Pharmaceutical Science and the Pharmaceutical and Molecular Biotechnology Research Centre (PMBRC) at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), on the development of novel drug delivery technologies for the transdermal delivery of therapeutic peptides.
Many of us take medicines as part of our daily lives without considering the technology embedded within the medicine. Increasingly, pharmaceutical companies are employing advanced drug delivery technologies to improve the therapeutic benefit to the patient.
Researchers in the PMBRC are working on a number of drug delivery projects with the goal of tackling conditions which are poorly served by existing medicines on the market. One of these projects is examining microneedle technology as a possible alternative to the delivery of biological medicines currently delivered by injection.
“Over the past 20 years, biopharmaceuticals have been a major driver of growth in the pharmaceutical industry, with eight of the top 10 drugs by revenue classified as biologics,” says Dr Dillon. “These drugs are manufactured from biological sources and, unlike many common drugs on the market, they cannot be taken
orally as they are typically broken down and inactivated by the digestive system.
“In addition, as they are relatively large molecules, they cannot be administered through the skin (ie applied topically in a cream or ointment). As such, they are mainly delivered to patients’ bloodstream directly via injection or, for example, using an injection pen to the stomach (for example, insulin, a biologically active peptide drug used in the treatment of diabetes).”
There is significant research into alternative delivery routes for biologics, as the current method of administering these drugs often requires the presence of a trained healthcare professional which is costly and inconvenient to the patient. A microneedle system capable of effectively delivering biopharmaceuticals through the skin would be a non-invasive and pain-free alternative, particularly for those who require frequent doses, children, elderly patients and those with a phobia of needles. Research is ongoing in the area of microneedle mediated drug delivery however, there is currently no drug product available on the market delivered by microneedle array.
The research being carried out in the PMBRC is focusing not only on developing a microneedle system that can deliver a wide range of these biological drugs but also on controlling the release rate of the drug once delivered. Some treatments require rapid release of the drug whereas in other cases, a more sustained and gradual delivery of the drug would be necessary.