Drug Lead and Probe Development (WP1):
- Designed, synthesised and optimised oxytocin (OT) analogues with superior stability, potency, and selectivity, achieving a gastrointestinal half-life exceeding 24 hours.
- Confirmed potency and selectivity toward the oxytocin receptor (OTR) versus vasopressin receptors through extensive pharmacological evaluation.
- Developed OTR-specific probes for target engagement studies, supporting fundamental research and in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo applications.
- Scaled up the most promising drug leads for in vivo and toxicity studies. No toxicity was observed.
Drug Lead Evaluation in Preclinical Mouse Models (WP2):
- Demonstrated significant reductions in visceral hypersensitivity in preclinical chronic abdominal pain mouse models following both rectal and oral administration.
- Optimised administration and analysis protocols, providing robust proof-of-concept data.
- Observed no adverse effects even at higher dosing levels, supporting a large therapeutic window.
- Published these results in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, one of the leading multidisciplinary chemistry journals (Impact Factor: 16.6 Top 5% category).
- Achieved global recognition through several awards, interviews, news articles, and social media engagement, reaching a broad audience of millions (Altmetric Score: 180, Top 5%).
Strategic Partnerships, IP Management, and Business Development (WP3):
- Secured the approval of a strong composition-of-matter patent to protect the novel drug leads and their therapeutic use.
- Conducted market research that validated the strong commercial potential of the innovation.
- Developed a business plan and confidential and non-confidential pitch decks.
- Established several new collaborations in peptide drug development and the abdominal pain field.
- Submitted applications for further funding and presented the project at pharmaceutical and biotech companies and international conferences.
