Drug delivery hydrogel patch
Swansea University is working with AANDSA Pharm, a “start-up” based in Cardiff is a spin-out company from Swansea University and P&S Nano to develop a controlled drug delivery hydrogel patch for psoriasis.
Centre for NanoHealth researchers and AANDSA Pharm have developed microencapsulation technology as part of a joint development programme and as a result several novel processes have been successfully achieved to produce drug encapsulated microspheres.
The company has had access to the research expertise of the centre, superb microencapsulation processing facilities and analytic instrumentation to develop and refine a potential topically applied patch product.
Through collaboration with Swansea University two full time MSc students have worked on this project through the Access to Masters (ATM) and KESS studentship programmes.
The project, with support from CNH, started from proof-of-concept and is now gearing itself towards the final stages of product development with the additional backing of an Academic4Business research grant and (Nano & Micro technologies for Healthcare (NMH) funding, which now employs two research assistants.
There are plans for a clinical trial with Swansea University’s clinical trial unit working closely with a team of clinical dermatologists from Singleton Hospital.
Alan Marsh - “The collaboration has already provided excellent results and we have had some truly invaluable support from CNH. This together with high interest in the project from leading dermatologists means we can move to the next stage of scale up, product formulation and applying for approval of clinical application before marketing.”