Intracellular Drug Delivery Centre
Enabling RNA-based medicines through disruptive innovation and collaborative excellence
How this technology is transforming medicines and vaccines
Intracellular drug delivery is a fundamental aspect of pharmacology as it facilitates the passage of drugs towards specific targets in the body. There are a range of non-viral drug delivery systems that have the potential to be used for the delivery of RNA-based vaccines and therapeutics, with a major focus on lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) due to their successful application and use in mRNA Covid-19 vaccines.
With the creation of this centre, funded by Innovate UK, our main goal is to accelerate the advancement of RNA-based therapies for improved healthcare, helping the UK become a global leader in intracellular drug delivery platforms. To do this, our centre leadership team provides thought leadership to the UK ecosystem, enabling cross-sector learning and knowledge transfer.
By collaborating with academia and industry, this new centre explores how the chemistry and formulation of drug delivery systems affect both physicochemical characteristics and biological performance. It provides vital knowledge to accelerate the development of new approaches that boost the efficiency and specificity of drug delivery.
What are the challenges?
Despite the advancements, the field of drug delivery continues to face both technical and commercial challenges. A major issue is the lack of correlation between in vitro and in vivo results, meaning current analytical methods are not always predictive of biological performance. There’s also a need to create new formulations using active and passive targeting that enable RNA therapies to reach different target tissues and cells beyond the liver, as well as enhancing payload transport and release within the body.
Beyond the lab, there are also challenges in storage and transportation and a need for enhanced thermostability. Moving forward, commercial and development challenges include unclear regulatory pathways, a complex IP landscape and high licensing costs. There remain opportunities to enhance manufacturing approaches, so processes can be developed and scaled in a sustainable and cost-effective manner.
Many companies and organisations need help to overcome all of these challenges, and none can do it alone. Before the creation of this centre, it was very difficult for smaller companies innovating in this area to access specialist support to develop their intracellular drug delivery technology. Through our centre of excellence, we’re changing just that.
How will this centre tackle these challenges?
By operating a Centre of Excellence with infrastructure, capability and knowhow, we’re supporting companies and academics to adopt radical and disruptive innovation in the development and manufacture of drug products based on RNA.
We envision a future of a strong and centralised UK community within drug delivery research and innovation. Through this centre of excellence, we can further foster collaboration and knowledge sharing. Drug delivery technology is crucial to advancements in vaccines and public health, so this centre is a vital asset to enable the UK to lead the charge in this hugely important area.
Our goal is to foster a dynamic ecosystem that catalyses breakthroughs in RNA-based drug development and manufacturing. In doing this, we will: help translate research activities, enable cross sector learning and knowledge transfer, and de-risk the adoption by industry providing a clear focus for inward investment to the UK whilst supporting the existing community of innovators in this vital area of research.
By pooling expertise, facilities and insight into one distributed centre of excellence we provide a single point of entry to drug delivery innovators while laying the foundation for a thriving UK community of research and development excellence.
Our leadership team
Juliana Haggerty
Head of Centre of Excellence, CPI
Dr Haggerty has worked at CPI since 2014, supporting our RNA vaccine programmes for the UK Vaccine Taskforce in 2020 and providing expert advice and due diligence on legacy activities and onshoring throughout 2021. She also sits on the Technology and Innovation committee of the UK Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership and has significant expertise in the use of public/private funding and collaborative R&D models to advance technology and innovation.
Professor Yvonne Perrie
Chair in Drug Delivery within Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical sciences
Throughout her career, Professor Perrie has demonstrated a relentless commitment to advancing pharmaceutical sciences and driving innovation in drug delivery. Her contributions have not only expanded the scientific understanding of nanomedicines but also hold tremendous potential for improving patient care and treatment outcomes.
Professor Neill Liptrott
Chair in Pharmacology and Immunocompatibility, Liverpool University
Professor Liptrott is a Chair in Pharmacology and Immunocompatibility at the University of Liverpool, and his research investigates the biological interactions of complex medicines, advanced therapeutics, and biomaterials.
Professor Robin Shattock
Professor of Mucosal Infection and Immunity, Imperial College London
Professor Shattock leads a team of vaccine and immunology researchers at Imperial College London, whose work has been published in over 250 peer-reviewed manuscripts, better informing disease prevention approaches for pathogens such as HIV, chlamydia and SARS-CoV‑2.
Dr Sarah BrockBank
Lead Scientist of External Drug Discovery, Medicines Discovery Catapult
With 35 years of experience in the pharma industry, Dr Brockbank leads the strategy of Complex Medicines at Medicines Discovery Catapult. Here, she draws on internal expertise and the external environment through membership of national programmes and a portfolio of client projects, to develop and implement a core strategy for complex medicines that is responsive to the needs of this emerging area.
Projects underway
Since launching in January 2023, we’ve made significant progress with this Centre, including:
- The purchase and installation of state-of-the-art equipment across our different sites and partners, such as a high-throughput screening and characterisation capability that works with a range of analytical methods.
- Initial screening of several lipids and LNP formulations with mRNA payloads.
- The use and implementation of adaptive Design of Experiments and deep learning approaches to build predictive formulation models.
- Setting up a range of characterisation capabilities for in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo testing.
- The completion of a Stage 3 design study for new facilities to house equipment and provide greater capacity at CPI.
Our future direction will be guided by the leadership team in responding to the needs of the drug delivery community in the UK.
Facing obstacles with formulation, scale-up, or commercialisation within drug delivery?
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