Medicines are formulated and manufactured by the Strathclyde Formulation Research Unit and the Cancer Research Campaign Formulation Unit. The new Collaborative Centre for Drug Delivery Research, led by Professor Howard Stevens, the Pfizer Professor in Exploratory Drug Delivery, with research partners at Glasgow's Royal and Western Infirmaries and the Veterinary School, is Europe's first multi-centre capability for exploring new methods of drug delivery in humans and animals. Intelligent capsules One of the new drug delivery systems is Professor Stevens' patented intelligent capsule which delivers drugs at the right time, in the right place, for illnesses such as asthma or heart conditions. The delayed-action drug capsules could relieve the worst symptoms of asthma and rheumatoid arthritis while cutting back on drug doses. Among other new ways of delivering established medicines is a gel which, when added to existing heartburn treatments, ensures the effect takes hold in the gullet.
Ordinary tablets continue into the stomach where they are of limited use.
The effects of these intelligent drugs are tested by inserting a tiny isotope into the drug and tracking the gamma rays it emits in photographic images - the testing system itself is another first for the drug delivery team at Strathclyde. This, together with complementary facilities at Glasgow Veterinary School, will evaluate the performance of novel drug delivery systems in patients, volunteers and animals. Plant juice, fungi secretions and snake venom form the basis of a third of the top 20 best-selling drugs in the world. SIDR has pioneered natural product research, earning over 9M from pharmaceutical companies in the process, and signed over 60 contracts with pharmaceutical companies. Among the current subjects of investigation are new treatments for asthma, arthritis and Alzheimer's.