Research
Centre of Excellence for Long-Acting Therapeutics (CELT Global Health)
The Centre of Excellence for Long-acting Therapeutics (CELT) is a cross-faculty research initiative combining our world leading expertise in pharmacology and materials chemistry and working with international partners to disseminate research findings in long-acting medicine and change the global landscape of drug administration
Long-acting therapeutics can have a huge impact for treatment and prevention of chronic diseases but also other applications for acute diseases where multiple pharmaceutical doses are required for successful therapy.
We intend to implement impactful solutions to the critical challenges that affect those suffering from these diseases and work with partners to better understand how these technologies can be of most benefit.
As an internationally recognised Centre of Excellence our mission is to drive awareness, understanding, development, and equitable implementation of long-acting therapeutics for unmet global health needs.
The nature of collaboration is a value at the very core of Centre of Excellence for Long-acting Therapeutics - Global Health (CELT Global Health), which was established as a result of many years of successful interdisciplinary collaboration between scientists from pharmacology and materials chemistry. This collaborative ethos manifests through our unique research activity where pharmacologists and chemists work together at the bench to advance life-altering innovations.
Successful partnerships with external stakeholders are fundamental to our success and facilitate motivated and progressive working relationships so we are keen to continue to establish effective partnerships with other world-leading experts and healthcare stakeholders.
UK Hub for Advanced Long-acting Therapeutics (HALo)
HALo is the UK Hub for Advanced Long-acting Therapeutics funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). HALo is a national Hub hosted under CELT Global Health with four co-founding academic partners.
In general, the most common medicines used to treat acute and chronic healthcare conditions are based on doses taken daily or several times per day. Treatments for high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, asthma, and depression, are all based on daily administration, delivered via tablets, liquid medicines, or inhalers.
Unfortunately, many medicines fail to deliver their intended benefits due to missed doses and many prescribed medicines are not fully utilised and ultimately thrown away. Missed doses create a range of additional complications, from a lack of efficacy, through to the development of pathogen resistance. These complications can negatively impact individual patients, in some cases leading to their death, and have the potential to negatively impact whole populations.
There is a proven alternative approach, called long-acting therapeutics, which deploys drugs in a different way. This is the basis for the CELT Global Health. In summary, a single administered dose may be developed to safely deliver the appropriate level of drug over very extended periods of time from weeks to months.
These approaches have been highly successful in the management of HIV and mental health disorders and CELT Global Health has been created to enable long-acting therapeutic development and deployment. The scope for long-acting therapeutics is considerable, and many diseases have no long-acting option. Global health efforts are targeting many of these opportunities to ensure options exist for patients around the world and across multiple healthcare needs.
Market research has consistently shown a high degree of patient enthusiasm for long-acting therapeutics. For doctors, this approach can greatly simplify the way they administer drugs, improve clinical outcomes, reduce environmental exposure, and reduce the costs of healthcare provision.
The LONGEVITY Project
The LONGEVITY project is developing long-acting medicines intended for the prevention of malaria and tuberculosis, as well as a single-injection cure for the hepatitis C virus. New medicines we create will be deployed in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where the burden is highest, with an estimated 300 million people infected and more than two million deaths per year.
A critical issue in treating or preventing these diseases is poor adherence to daily medication. This can be caused by a number of factors such as stigma around the disease, pill burden, and complex delivery modes. These difficulties can be overcome and adherence to life saving medication improved, by replacing chronic oral dosing with an injectable alternative that requires administration far less frequently.
Our aims
Reduce the huge burden unsustainable oral regimens place on patients by reformulating pre-existing medicines as long-acting formulations that require administration far less frequently
Transform healthcare programmes as we expand global knowledge in long-acting injectable product development, regulation of the technology, and how it should be implemented by healthcare providers
Improve the quality of care for millions of people on a global scale through our world-leading research in materials chemistry and pharmacology, as well as regulatory expertise and community engagement.
Research groups
- Rannard Group
Research grants
In vitro and in vivo assessment of nanoemulsion co-formulations of dolutegravir and rilpivirine.
BRITISH SOCIETY FOR ANTIMICROBIAL CHEMOTHERAPY (UK)
June 2017 - December 2018