Platform 11: Long-Acting Therapeutics

Long-acting therapeutics can have a huge impact for treatment and prevention of chronic diseases but also other applications for acute diseases where multiple pharmaceutical doses are required for successful therapy.

This new platform within iiCON enables companies of all sizes access to CELT’s expertise in long-acting therapeutics supporting impactful collaborations to enhance product and therapeutic efficacy and drive innovation.

Click here to visit CELT’s website and find out more about the centre.

CELT works with international partners to disseminate research findings in long-acting medicine and change the global landscape of drug administration. CELT was established in 2020 with funding provided by Unitaid alongside match funding from the University of Liverpool.

CELT intends to implement impactful solutions to the critical challenges that affect those suffering from these diseases and work with partners to better understand how these technologies can be of most benefit.

CELT aims to provide a better understanding of a range of technologies, to develop new interventions and harmonise strategies to accelerate long-acting therapeutic development and implementation. CELT collaborates globally with industrial, academic and charitable partners as well as patients and doctors, and is keen to establish new links to programmes that aim to deliver clear patient benefits.

For more information or to learn how your business can engage with this platform.

Email Dr Lizzie Crawford

Platform Lead

Professor Steve Rannard

Co-director of the Centre of Excellence for Long-acting Therapeutics (CELT)

Steve is a professor of chemistry at the University of Liverpool. He is a co-director of the Centre of Excellence for Long-acting Therapeutics (CELT), the academic lead for Nanomedicine within the Materials Innovation Factory and Director of the Radiomaterials Laboratory within the Department of Chemistry. His therapeutic research primarily focuses on advanced materials science onto unmet medical/clinical needs to target new patient benefits using scalable polymer syntheses, nanoparticle synthesis, solid drug nanoparticle formulation and nanoemulsion platforms. Steve spent 16 years in industry (Cookson, Courtaulds, Unilever) and has co-founded four stat-up companies (IOTA Nanosolutions Ltd, Hydra Polymers Ltd, Tandem Nano Ltd, and Polymer Mimetics Ltd). Steve was the firest recipient of the RSC/Macro Group UK Young Researcher of the Year medal, sequential RSC Industrial Lectureships at Strathclyde and Sussex, a visiting lectureship at Sussex, visiting Professorship at UOL, and a Royal Society Industry Fellowship.

Platform Lead

Professor Andrew Owen

Co-director of the Centre of Excellence for Long-acting Therapeutics (CELT)

Andrew Owen is a co-director of the Centre of Excellence in Long-acting Therapeutics (CELT) at the University of Liverpool. He is principal investigator for LONGEVITY, an international project funded by Unitaid that aims to translate long-acting medicines for malaria, tuberculosis, and Hepatitis C Virus. Andrew also leads a modelling and simulation core and sits on the executive group for the NIH-funded Long-acting/Extended-release Antiretroviral resource Program (LEAP). He is a Director and CSO for Tandem Nano Ltd. and co-inventor of patents relating to drug delivery. Since March 2020, he has been intensively engaged in evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 antiviral candidates.