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Biography
Raphael graduated with an MPharm degree from the University of East Anglia in 2015. During this period he completed a three month summer placement in pharmaceutical development at AstraZeneca. For his dissertation, he worked on encapsulating docetaxel anticancer agent in liposomal nanoformulations. He then completed his pre-registration training at Cambridge University Hospitals and GlaxoSmithKline where he worked on Oral Solid Dosage formulation, before joining the CDT. Raphael is a practicing GPhC registered pharmacist.
Research Summary
Topic: Affinity-based subcutaneous formulation development for peptides and proteins
Polypeptides and proteins have become a major potent class of clinically used therapy and now constitute a large number of newly approved drugs. However, issues such as sub-optimal pharmacokinetics and aggregation pose development challenges. Formulation approaches can address some of the challenges associated with polypeptide and protein use.
Due to decreased treatment costs and increased patient preference for subcutaneous (SC) administration over intravenous formulations there is considerable interest in the development of delivery systems that can i) stabilise the drugs for therapeutic use and ii) provide sustained drug release with the aim of reducing dosage regimen and improving adherence.
Several SC peptide formulation are based on the clinically established poly((lactic-co-glycolic acid). However, these formulations present with problems such as local inflammatory reactions, use of non-aqueous solvent and difficulty to achieving high loading with desired release profile. This PhD aims to develop a SC delivery system which is able to sustain polypeptide release by exploiting affinity between the polypeptide and the delivery system.