Medical Design Briefs - August 2023 - 27

Drug Delivery
Novel Drug-Delivery Development Center Opens in UK
The center will help develop novel drug-delivery technologies and support promising
RNA vaccines and therapeutics.
F
unded by Innovate UK's Transforming
Medicines Manufacturing program,
with a grant of £10 million ($12.6 million)
over three years, a new center will provide
a single point of entry for drug discovery
and development innovators to access new
capabilities in intracellular drug delivery.
The partnership is the first of its kind in
the UK and will investigate and develop new
lipid nanoparticle (LNP) formulations for
the delivery of RNA medicine, and a framework
to develop next-generation nano delivery
systems.
The Intracellular Drug Delivery Centre
will help predict the stability, efficacy, performance,
and any potential adverse reactions
of RNA vaccines and therapeutics.
This will help unlock the potential of RNAbased
medicines, creating greater access to
cutting-edge, cost-effective vaccines, and
therapeutics for the benefit of patients.
" We're excited to be leading this novel
partnership, bringing together leading experts
in intracellular drug delivery, " says Dr. Juliana Haggerty,
head of the Intracellular Drug Discovery Centre at CPI. " This
unique collaboration can provide the industry with unparalleled
access to cutting- edge technologies to accelerate drug
design, development, characterization, and manufacture. The
new center will make it easier for industry to access expertise in
this important sector. "
The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the enormous poThe
center will provide a single point of entry for drug discovery and development innovators to access new
capabilities in intracellular drug delivery. (Credit: CPI)
tential of nucleic acids - the building blocks of mRNA vaccines;
but significant innovation is needed to develop new
nucleic-acid-based therapies, understand how they work in the
body, and improve manufacturing processes.
Industry needs novel drug-delivery systems, such as LNPs, to
support and complement RNA therapeutic developments. Current
LNP systems are expensive to access, so identifying novel,
cost-effective alternative delivery methods will promote access
to nucleic-acid-based vaccines and therapeutics not just in the
UK, but around the world.
The new drug-delivery center will provide industry with the
much-needed infrastructure to address these challenges and
will build on the outstanding expertise and know-how of all partners.
According to CPI, the center is also designed to also attract
inward investment and to promote resilience and sustainable
growth in the UK healthcare ecosystem in order to meet key objectives
of its Transforming Medicines Manufacturing program.
There will also be a strong emphasis on training and developing
the future workforce through courses and network
building for early-career researchers. The funding will cover
additional state-of-the-art equipment at its facilities in Sedgefield
in the North East of England, along with complementary
capability development for its partners.
Medical Design Briefs, August 2023
" Lipid nanoparticles have proven to be a valuable platform
for the targeted delivery of medicines and vaccines. Collaborations
between industry and academia, such as this new Intracellular
Drug Delivery Centre, will be crucial in pushing this
technology forward and helping us to deliver the next generation
of RNA-based vaccines, " says Prof. Robin Shattock, chair in
Mucosal Infection and Immunity at Imperial College London.
The center's vision is to enable people to live longer, healthier
lives and drive economic growth in the health and life
sciences sector through innovation, according to Dr. Sarah
Goulding, executive director, Healthy Living and Agriculture
Domain at Innovate UK. " Nucleic-acid-based therapies and
vaccines have emerged as exciting new medicines, and developing
innovative formulations is a key step to addressing
unmet medical needs for patients, " she says. " Innovate UK is
investing in this collaboration to drive and de-risk novel technology
to improve the targeted delivery of novel medicines,
building a leading UK capability for this sector. " The center
will provide new capabilities for mRNA-based drug development
and manufacture of cost-effective vaccines and therapeutics
in the UK, boosting not only economic growth but also
security of supply, according to Prof. Yvonne Perrie, head of
Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences at
the University of Strathclyde.
CPI is an independent innovation center. For more information,
visit www.uk-cpi.com.
Read the report " Shaping the UK into an
epicentre for complex medicines. "
www.medicaldesignbriefs.com
27

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Medical Design Briefs - August 2023

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