There is a current, future and global need for the development of additional long acting (LA) drug formulations that achieve extended release dosage forms that are stable, predictable and which can be applied across multiple and complex Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) groups.
Enabling innovative therapies and drug formulations that meet these requirements at an industrial scale will not only unlock potential cost efficiencies for pharmaceutical manufacturers, but also, and importantly, it will result in more effective therapies at lower cost for vulnerable patient groups such as those facing chronic illness or those living in the developing world.
LongActNow will deliver industrially-informed, interdisciplinary training to five Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) in relevant areas of expertise including crystallisation, solution behaviour modelling and solvent switching, pharmacokinetics and formulation.
ESRs will also benefit from exposure to industrial research environments as part of their career development training. The 3-year contract will provide a well-defined research and training programme with access to excellent supervision and research infrastructure, a personalised career development plan and an research ecosystem that promotes network-building, mentorship and collaboration.
LongActNow is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie ITN action (MSCA) led by a consortium of significant international academic and industrial centres: University of Limerick (UL), Synthesis and Solid State Pharmaceutical Centre (SSPC), Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Technische Universität Dortmund (TUD) and Janssen Pharmaceutica (Janssen).
The MSCA programmes equip researchers with the necessary skills and international experience for a successful career, either in the public or the private sector. The MSCA programme responds to the challenges sometimes faced by researchers, offering them attractive working conditions and the opportunity to move between academic and other settings.
In keeping with the ethos of MSCA actions, LongActNow aims to:
1. INVESTIGATE
Investigate bottom-up technologies, with potential for upscaling and process integration, for production of LA stable crystal suspensions and for solvent-switching, including means for process control;
2. UNDERSTAND
Gain a more in-depth understanding of the end-to-end impact of excipients on the crystallization processes (nucleation, stabilization, crystal growth, polymorphism control, solvent switch) by modelling the molecular interactions that take place during crystallization and stabilization; and
3. VERIFY
Verify the research outcomes by comparing the resulting technology with current upscaled top-down technologies and applying selected technologies and methodologies for a selection of highly challenging APIs available at Janssen
