Investigating novel formulations and the delivery of vaccine and drugs

There remains a clinical need for safer and more effective medicines and vaccines. This project could lead to significant benefits in terms of contributions to healthcare quality worldwide both for animals (e.g. TB and Rabies vaccines) and humans (e.g. TB, flu vaccines and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV)). This research work aims to provide new formulations that may improve the efficacy of already available vaccines or therapeutic agents used to treat diseases or assist in the healing process. It will also seek to facilitate the formulation of substances that might otherwise be inactive, and improve storage characteristics, for example, increased shelf life, or heat-stability. Improving heat stability will help to avoid the need for cold-chain vaccine handling (cold chain vaccine handling ensures that vaccines are properly stored and distributed at the correct temperature).   

In real terms, it is expected that the work done under this project will help to outline aspects of drug and vaccine delivery systems – such as techniques and the use of novel agents – that may provide the basis for further research and possible clinical trials. The benefits of this project may also include the dissemination of research resulting in the adoption of more effective formulation strategies. It may, for example, by publishing results based on these studies, lead to the implementation of improved formulation strategies within the pharmaceutical area.  It is hoped that specific candidate drugs, vaccines and formulations of interest that have been studied through the project may enter pre-clinical and clinical trials or go on to be manufactured with the potential for widespread improvement of human and animal health.

Our research findings will be disseminated via delivery at conferences and peer reviewed publications. We have several collaborators around the UK and of course all funders will also disseminate the outputs from the project.