Collaboration will bring microbubbles a step closer to being used in patients

A new research project between Medicines Discovery Catapult and the University of Leeds has started at Alderley Park, to bring microbubble technology a step closer to being used in patients.

Currently, many drugs that have the potential to be life-saving and life-improving may not be able to reach the patient as a result of their toxic side effects. Microbubble technology — the use of tiny gas-filled bubbles to transport drugs to specific tissues — may offer a viable solution in that they can overcome the toxicity or stability issues of these drugs.

“Many drugs fail to reach patients because they cannot be safely delivered to target tissues. This ground-breaking technology has the potential to drive drug discovery forward, by enabling the use of existing drugs that are currently unsuitable,” said Dr Peter Simpson, chief scientific officer at Medicines Discovery Catapult. “The Medicines Discovery Catapult is here to help translate the best new technology and innovations — like microbubbles — into ground-breaking products. Our industry expertise and research rigour mean we’re expertly placed to support world class academic endeavour, in this case with our partners at the University of Leeds.”

Additionally, it is hoped that microbubble technology could find use in the treatment of cancer through reducing the amount of drugs that are required to be administered to patients and therefore, decreasing the side effects. Furthermore, doctors could potentially use a wider range of treatments for diseases, or fight infections with microbubbles attached to antibiotics.

“The potential that microbubble technology presents is huge,” added Professor Stephen Evans from the University of Leeds, who is leading the research. “In the future, we’ll look back and wonder why it took us so long to combine drug delivery with physical mechanisms to enhance their uptake. We need people to test drugs and to speed up the translation process, which allows us to say this is an efficient methodology for the treatment of diseases. This collaboration will take existing research to the next stage and aims to validate the technology on a range of drug molecules, developing it to a stage suitable for future consideration in humans.”

The bubbles, which are one thousandth of a millimetre in size, are made and burst using two machines that were developed by scientists at the University of Leeds. The first machine, which creates the bubbles, is called the Horizon platform. Once the bubbles have transported the drug to the right place in the body, they are then burst using an ultrasound machine, allowing the drug to be released.

This three-year research collaboration is the first project to be delivered from the Medicines Discovery Catapult’s new laboratories at Alderley Park, the flagship bio and life sciences campus in Cheshire. The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council is funding the University of Leeds research, with Medicines Discovery Catapult matching this by providing a range of expertise and resources in drug discovery and the laboratory facilities where the research takes place.