HIPODERM · High Potency Dermatologicals

The HIPODERM application seeks support under the Marie Curie Industry-Academia Partnerships and Pathways scheme to facilitate the growth of a dynamic research team for 'the development of novel dermal-translocation, high-potency drug delivery systems'. Our aim is to develop a core scientific platform from which novel non-invasive drug delivery systems can be developed and clinically assessed. At the core of this project lies the hypothesis that microneedle assisted topical drug delivery has failed to fulfil expectations because researchers have routinely over estimated the scale of permeation enhancement possible using passive microneedle treatment and also, in general, have targeted unsuitable therapeutic molecules. This project aims to address both of these issues by developing new formulation and fabrication approaches. Combining physical disruption of the stratum corneum barrier with microneedle arrays and a number of active permeation enhancement techniques (such as iontophoresis and phonophoresis) will produce a range of novel hybrid permeation enhancement systems (HPES). The project will focus on high potency therapeutics possessing low therapeutic concentrations that make only realistic demands on delivery systems. Such high potency materials are of increasing importance in therapeutics but are inherently difficult to work with because of the health and safety implications of their high activity. The project pools the expertise of a number of international partners with particular expertise in specific aspects of the approach.Three clinically interesting target areas have been identified for evaluation:1. Locally delivered chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of cancers of the skin and underlying tissues2. Enhanced localised delivery of potent photosensitisers for photodynamic therapy (PDT)3. Local and systemic delivery of therapeutic peptides