Gavin Andrews

Professor Gavin Andrews is chair of pharmaceutical engineering and has research interests in development of novel orally administered solid dosage forms and biomaterials. This involves the use of engineering techniques for controlled/targeted delivery within the gastrointestinal tract and solubility enhancement of poorly soluble therapeutics and the use of multi-layer extrusion technology for manufacture of biomaterials and complex oral dosage forms. Professor Andrews has secured funding from a wide range of sources, including EPSRC, EU, The Wellcome Trust, SFI, NSF, DEL and The Royal Society (https://royalsociety.org/grants/case-studies/gavin-andrews/). His research, which has a significant industrial focus, has been extensively sponsored by major multinational pharmaceutical companies and he has played a central role in technology transfer between academia and industry through funding from Innovate UK, Enterprise Ireland and Invest Northern Ireland. Professor Andrews sits on the Editorial Advisory Boards of Drug Development & Industrial Pharmacy, Journal of Pharmacy & Pharmacology and Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. He has published his research widely in internationally peer-reviewed pharmaceutics journals and has been invited to present at leading national and international conferences. He has formed strong collaborative links with researchers in the UK, Europe and the United States, held a Royal Society Industry Fellowship with Astra-Zeneca from 2009-2014, is the current President of the UK & Ireland Controlled Release Society (www.ukircs.org) and is a member of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences Expert Subject Group on Materials Science.

Professor Andrews’ leads a dynamic research group that has its focus in pharmaceutical engineering with a specific emphasis on secondary processing. Research sits at the interface between pharmaceutical sciences and chemical engineering with the aim of challenging the traditional methods commonly used to manufacture oral dosage forms and drug delivery platforms. The group have a strong interest in emerging pharmaceutical manufacturing technologies and in understanding their inherent advantages and disadvantages. Ultimately, the group aims to design and manufacture both oral drug delivery and biomaterial products via a quality-by-design rather than quality-by analysis approach. To date, focus has been on hot melt extrusion and more recently injection moulding. Furthermore, we are interested in novel ways of producing intricate and personalised dosage forms (Fixed Dose Combinations). Our general aim is to better understand the capabilities of each process and to build an understanding of the interrelation between formulation and processing factors and the impact these have upon end product performance. Interestingly, over the last 10 years there has been a significant drive towards continuous processing. HME and IM may be used for continuous production of high quality drug delivery products in a single step whilst also permitting real time characterisation using process analytical technologies. Recent work in this area, included in The Royal Society Trustees’ Report (https://royalsociety.org/~/media/about-us/reporting/2014-17-9-trustees-report.pdf?la=en-GB), involves the manufacture of solid dispersions and co-crystals to improve the dissolution rate of poorly water-soluble drugs, one of the major challenges in dosage form development. We have also received considerable funding from Science Foundation Ireland and The Department for Employment and Learning (~£1M) to develop fixed dose combination products along with colleagues at Trinity College Dublin and Eli Lilly (USA). Moreover, the group has strong international links with major multinational pharmaceutical companies and universities (e.g., Eli Lilly, Astra Zeneca, Capsugel, Trinity College Dublin, University of Limerick, Purdue University, Rutgers University, Ghent University, CSOPS, SSPC) and has recently received $1.4M for a US-Ireland partnership to develop continuous manufacturing for nano-based drug products.