Billions of pounds have been spent trying to solve a problem that is fundamentally about engineering, not chemistry: getting cancer drugs to actually reach every cell inside a tumour. The Oxford Centre for Drug Delivery Devices (OxCD3) will combine stimulus-responsive nanocarriers with existing medical devices to physically transport therapeutics from the bloodstream into the tumour mass, rather than relying solely on biochemical tweaks to drug molecules. This matters because current drug delivery fails at the physical level. Even potent drugs cannot work if they never penetrate the tumour’s dense tissue. The centre will design both the drug vehicle and the delivery device under one roof—a rare combination—and aims to produce three “Device+Drug” exemplars manufactured to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards, ready for Phase I clinical trials within five years. If successful, the project could shift how the pharmaceutical industry approaches oncology: away from purely molecular design and toward integrated engineering solutions. Over 50 years, the goal is to position the UK as a world leader in multi-disciplinary drug delivery, complementing its existing strength in drug discovery. The centre also plans to train a new generation of scientists who understand regulatory and manufacturing hurdles from the start, not just laboratory research.
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The greatest challenge in oncological drug delivery is achieving successful penetration and distribution of the therapeutic agent throughout the tumour: billions of pounds have been spent to date in deploying biochemical approaches in an attempt to solve what is essentially an engineering problem, namely the transport of therapeutics from the blood stream to reach every cancer cell. OxCD3 will seek to transform both clinical and industry practice in drug delivery by demonstrating the value and feasibility of engineering approaches, involving a combination of stimulus-responsive nanocarriers and medical devices already in clinical use, for improved tumour uptake and therapeutic outcome. The Programme Grant will enable the creation of a sustainable, world-unique multi-disciplinary environment for combinational engineering of biology, chemistry and medical devices to improve drug delivery under a single roof. It is also expected to create a unique training environment for the next generation of young scientists working on combination therapies and biomedical nanotechnology, by providing direct exposure to regulatory and manufacturing issues encountered when translating laboratory research into production and clinical practice. A unique feature of the Centre is the capability to design both devices and drug delivery vehicles under a single roof. In the first 5 years, under EPSRC funding, up to 3 carefully selected "Device+Drug" exemplars will be manufactured to GMP, ready for Phase I clinical trials, to provide compelling evidence of feasibility to industrial partners and clinicians; in the next 5 years, a private-public partnership will be built to complete clinical trials of these exemplars using therapeutics of strategic significance to the pharmaceutical industry; beyond 10 years, full industrial sponsorship of the OXCD3 is anticipated, which will focus on addressing next-generation challenges in drug delivery (beyond cancer) in partnership with industry and clinicians. The transformative aim over 50 years is to position the UK as the world leader for multi-disciplinary drug delivery development, complementing its existing position as a drug discovery leader, from design to manufacture and clinical trials.
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