Fundamentals of Pharmaceutical Nanoscience

Nanoscience or the science of the very small offers the pharmaceutical scientist a wealth of opportunities. By fabricating at the nanoscale, it is possible to exert unprecedented control on drug activity. This textbook will showcase a variety of nanosystems working from their design and construction to their application in the field of drug delivery. The book is intended for graduate students in drug delivery, physical and polymer chemistry, and applied pharmaceutical sciences courses that involve fundamental nanoscience.

The purpose of the text is to present physicochemical and biomedical properties of synthetic polymers with an emphasis on their application in polymer therapeutics i.e., pharmaceutical nanosystems, drug delivery and biological performance. There are two main objectives of this text. The first is to provide advanced graduate students with knowledge of the principles of nanosystems and polymer science including synthesis, structure, and characterization of solution and solid state properties. The second is to describe the fundamentals of therapeutic applications of polymers in drug delivery, targeting, response modifiers as well as regulatory issues.

The courses, often listed as Advanced Drug Delivery and Applied Pharmaceutics; Polymer Therapeutics; or Nanomedicine, are designed as an overview of the field specifically for graduate students in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences Graduate Programs. However, the course content may also be of interest for graduate students in related biomedical research programs.

These courses generally include a discussion of the major principles of polymer science and fundamental concepts of application of polymers as modern therapeutics. All courses are moving away from the above mentioned course names and going by ‘pharmaceutical nanoscience or nanosystems’. This area of research and technology development has attracted tremendous attention during the last twodecades and it is expected that it will continue to grow in importance. However, the area is just emerging and courses are limited but they are offered.

Nanoscience and nanotechnology overview.- Liposome preparation and characterization.- Solid polymeric nanoparticles.- Lipid nanoparticles.- Polymeric vesicles.- Low molecular weight amphiphile micelles.- Polymeric micelles.- Niosomes.- Quantum dots.- Magnetic particles.- Drug nanoparticles.- Polymeric pro-drugs.- Therapeutic Applications of pharmaceutical nanosystems.- Drug solubilisation.- Gene therapy.- Chemotherapy.- Tissue engineering.- Anti-infectives.- Vaccination.- Anti-arthritic drugs.- Imaging agents.- Commercial exploitation of pharmaceutical nanosystems.- Future perspectives.- Multiple Choice.- Problem Sets.- Case Studies.- Suggested Reading.

Professor Ijeoma F. Uchegbu

Ijeoma Uchegbu FMedSci is UCL’s Professor of Pharmaceutical Nanoscience, a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, a governor on the Wellcome board (one of the largest biomedical sciences research charities in the world), a member of the Academy of Medical Sciences Council and Chief Scientific Officer of Nanomerics Ltd.   In 2024, Uchegbu will take up the position of President of Wolfson College, University of Cambridge having been elected to the position in 2023.  Uchegbu has served as Chair of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences and chaired the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and Science Foundation Ireland grant prioritisation panels. 

Uchegbu has studied the mechanisms of drug transport across biological barriers and created transformational drug transport nanoparticles.  She was the first to show that peptides could be delivered across the blood brain barrier to elicit a pharmacological response, when presented as peptide drug nanofibers and the first to demonstrate, via definitive pharmacology and pharmacokinetics evidence, peptide transport into the brain, using peptide nanoparticles delivered via the nose to brain route.  These findings led to the development of the enkephalin pain medicine candidate Envelta™, which was designed to address the opioid crisis.  In preclinical studies, Envelta™ showed no analgesic tolerance, reward seeking behaviour or potential to cause significant constipation.  Envelta has been out licensed for clinical development.

The technology underpinning Envelta™ won first prize in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Emerging Technologies competition in 2017 and the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences Science Innovation Award in 2016.  Three other medicine candidates based on this nanotechnology have further been out-licensed to pharmaceutical companies. 

Uchegbu has also won numerous prizes for her work and these include: the UK Government’s Women of Outstanding Achievement in Science, Engineering and Technology 2007, Royal Pharmaceutical Society Pharmaceutical Scientist of the Year 2012, Special Recognition Business of Science Leadership Award 2023 and others. 

Uchegbu’s scientific research work has been funded continuously for over two decades by the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and she serves on the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council’s governing body. 

Dr Andreas G. Schatzlein

Andreas Schatzlein has a track record of medicines development and translational research in industry and academia. His research interests focus on the discovery and preclinical/clinical development of targeted anti-cancer drugs and nanomedicines and the understanding of their underlying biology. Andreas is a veterinary surgeon by training and, after completion of his doctorate on transdermal nanomedicines delivery, joined the biotech start-up IDEA in Munich to develop this technology commercially.

In 1996 joined academia at the Cancer Research UK Beatson Laboratories at the University of Glasgow where became leader of the Experimental Therapeutics and Gene Medicines Group. There he was also responsible for setting up a unit that carried out analysis of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics readouts from early phase translational oncology/nanomedicines trials using a good clinical laboratory practice framework. He currently is a Reader at the UCL School of Pharmacy and co-founder and CEO of Nanomerics Ltd, a UCL spinout company developing pharmaceutical nanotechnology.

Dr Aikaterini Lalatsa

Aikaterini Lalatsa is a Reader in Nanomedicines and the Deputy Director of Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Formulation Unit (a MHRA licensed manufacturing unit for sterile and oral new Investigational Medicinal Products for Phase I/II clinical trials) at Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences (SIPBS), University of Strathclyde. Katerina has a track record in development and translation of biologics, chemotherapeutics and nanomedicines working closely with industry towards translation into first in human studies. She leads the Bio-engineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (BioN) laboratory (originally at University of Portsmouth and now at Strathclyde) that attracted funding from national and international government, charity or industrial sources.  She is the inventor of 4 international patents and her work has led to a paradigm shift in the non-invasive delivery of peptides, proteins and antibodies and chemotherapeutics across the blood-brain barrier. Katerina is the MSc in Pharmaceutical Quality and Good Manufacturing Practise course leader at University of Strathclyde.

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