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Press Release - Liverpool launches new Centre of Excellence for Long-acting Therapeutics
University of Liverpool has launched a new research centre for the development of revolutionary long-acting medicines.
What is it about?
Researchers from the Centre of Excellence for Long-acting Therapeutics (CELT) at the University of Liverpool have shown the potential of repurposing an existing and cheap drug into a long-acting injectable therapy that could be used to treat COVID-19.
Led by Professors Steve Rannard and Andrew Owen, the CELT research team began repurposing and reformulating identified drug compounds with the potential for COVID-19 therapy candidates within weeks of the UK’s first lockdown in spring 2020. Through their research, the CELT team demonstrated the nanoparticle formulation of niclosamide, a highly insoluble drug compound, as a scalable long-acting injectable antiviral candidate.
Niclosamide is just one of the drug compounds identified and has been shown to be highly effective against SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – in a number of laboratory studies.
Using their expertise in the fields of materials chemistry, long-acting drug delivery and pharmacology, CELT scientists used nanoprecipitation to form redispersible solid drug nanoparticle formulations of niclosamide that can be stored as solids, reconstituted with water and utilised as long acting injectables. Their research has demonstrated sustained circulating drug concentrations may be maintained for the duration of early infection after a single injection. This is still in early-stage development but the CELT team are currently working with contract manufacturing organisation Upperton to take this forward towards scale up and clinical manufacture.
The long-acting therapy development from the team was initiated and supported by EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) funding. The progression to scale-up and manufacture has received support from Unitaid.
Why is it important?
The CELT team worked through the first national UK lockdown in the spring of 2020 to identify existing drug candidates with SARS-CoV-2 activity and develop formulations that may have clinical relevance for future potential ‘test-and-treat’ strategies. In this scenario, a positive test would lead to a long-acting injection of therapy, thereby delivering a full course of therapeutic agent to greatly shorten the infection timescale and reduce progression and transmission of the disease.
The ultimate utility of this long-acting injectable can only be determined in adequately powered and well controlled randomised clinical trials but unlike other drugs that have been explored for repurposing niclosamide target concentrations may be achievable in humans. The formulation has shown great promise in preclinical studies at a time when it is increasingly evident that drugs are urgently required to compliment vaccines.
A global pandemic requires a global solution, and it is critical that interventions are available to everyone and not to the privileged few. Accordingly, the team are currently working to remove obstacles to availability in low- and middle-income countries to ensure equitable access if clinical success is ultimately demonstrated.
Perspectives
Repurposing drug compounds is much more than using existing medicines for a new disease. The existing active drug compound needs to be shown to be active at a significant level, then reformulated to address new challenges. The conventional route of administration may also not be relevant and modifying the way the patient receives the drug compound is highly critical to efficacy. Niclosamide is an ideal candidate to be taken forward as a potential long acting injectable therapeutic to treat COVID-19, and we are actively seeking partners for the next steps of product development and translation.
