Associate Prof. Deirdre D’Arcy, Trinity College Dublin, Prof. Brendan Griffin, University College Cork, Prof. Peter McLoughlin, SETU Waterford, Prof. Caitriona O’Driscoll, University College Cork, Dr Joseph O’Mahony, SETU Waterford, Dr Niall O’Reilly, SETU Waterford, Dr Tim Persoons, Trinity College Dublin, Prof. Lidia Tajber, Trinity College Dublin, Dr Katie Ryan, University College Cork, Dr Sonja Vucen, University College Cork, Prof. Anne Moore, University College Cork/National Institute for Bioprocessing Research & Training (NIBRT) Prof. Elizabeth Topp, (NIBRT)
Trinity College Dublin
Medicines
Prof. Abina Crean
University College Cork
Overall Objective
Key Scientific Expertise
- Preformulation and formulation of solid dosage forms
- Amorphous materials
- Microneedles
- Solid state characterization
- Pharmaceutical processing
- Dissolution studies
- Dissolution modelling
- In vivo animal (pig) model
- In vitro-in vivo correlations.
Industrial Significance
In the context of advancing formulation approaches we have identified three significant current challenges that need to be addressed, namely:
Poorly soluble drugs: It is estimated that more than 60% of new drug molecules display poor aqueous solubility. There is an on-going need for enabling formulations for such therapeutic agents which have suboptimal bioavailability.
Personalised and age-appropriate medicines: Translation of personalised medicines to large patient groups requires the development of novel formulation approaches to deliver tailored dosage for individual patient needs. By harnessing new and emerging technologies we will seek to provide age-appropriate formulations for paediatric and geriatric populations, where demand for such approaches is growing.
Rational formulation approaches with predictive performance: The implementation of predictive modelling approaches to reduce drug product development times, control the impact of material variability on manufacture, reduce drug product variability and support real time drug release is a key challenge, and can only be addressed through an improved understanding of how material and processing characteristics impact product performance.
Medicines Research Byte
Check out these 3-minute video from Dr Waleed Faisal: ArrayPatch – Novel Formulation approach to intradermal delivery.
Dr Waleed Faisal
University College Cork
Dr Waleed Faisal is a Project Manager at the School of Pharmacy, University College Cork. Listn to this presentation on his and his team’s work on ArrayPatch. The ArrayPatch is unique with microneedle structures composed for 100% API in a non-crystalline state. This is a patented platoform technology to manufacture medicines into dissolvable drug microneedle patches.
