Introduction

The Pharmaceutical Materials and Dosage Form Design cluster seeks to provide a scientific basis for the development of better dosage forms.

Physicochemical characterisation of new drugs and excipients and the formulation of novel drug delivery systems to achieve optimised bioavailability, drug targeting and therapeutic outcomes are the main objectives of this cluster.

Formulations are developed for all the main routes of administration (including oral, nail, pulmonary, parenteral) and a number of proprietary drug delivery platforms have been progressed to the point of commercially availability (such as microparticles, nano-particles and enteric polymer coating systems). There are particular interests in the challenges of developing medicines for paediatric and geriatric patients and in developing personalised dose delivery systems.

Research areas cover pharmaceutical characterisation (e.g. thermal, surface and materials analysis) and pharmaceutical processing (e.g. solid dosage form fabrication, spray drying, coating). Paediatric and geriatric formulation and dosage form development are active and focused areas of research effort. Research also spans the development pharmaceutical ink jet printing, development of processes for cellular patterning and development of electrospun fibres.

Many of the cluster members have established collaborations in the wider UCL community and with industry partners in most of the major pharmaceutical companies. Research within the cluster is currently supported by major funding from the EPSRC for the Centre for Doctoral Training in Advanced Therapeutics, NHS, BBSRC, MRC, European Commission and Technology Strategy Board.