New Scientific Advisory Board formed at Arecor
The AIM-listed business has formed a new Scientific Advisory Board of specialists in the fields of oral drug delivery and peptide therapeutics.
Arecor is leveraging its significant formulation and product development expertise to develop a game-changing novel technology platform for the oral delivery of peptides with significantly improved bioavailability compared with the state-of-the-art approaches available today.
This would address a key patient need in large and highly valuable markets such as diabetes and obesity. These specialist advisers will provide key technical and strategic guidance as Arecor tackles the challenge of achieving effective oral delivery of peptides, with the goal of unlocking the potential of oral delivery for this increasingly important class of therapeutics.
Jan Jezek, Chief Scientific Officer of Arecor, said: “The challenge of oral peptide delivery has persisted for decades, with even the most advanced therapeutics on the market achieving less than 1% bioavailability. At present nearly all peptide drugs are only injectable and there is well-established evidence that their oral delivery would improve patient compliance and adherence, reducing the overall healthcare burden and improving access.
“We are delighted to welcome this exceptional group of experts to our Scientific Advisory Board, who bring unparalleled expertise in our mission to develop a novel oral delivery of peptides platform that can address the current significant unmet patient need.”
New SAB member David Brayden is a Full Professor of Advanced Drug Delivery at the School of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin (UCD) and a Senior Fellow of the UCD Conway Institute. His research focuses on oral peptide delivery and nanomedicines, with over 300 research publications and 12 patents in these areas.
He is an elected Fellow of both the Controlled Release Society and the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, and is an elected member of the Royal Irish Academy. Dr. Brayden is co-lead PI on the Research Ireland Centre for Medical Devices (CURAM) and current coordinator of BUCCAL-PEP, an EU Horizon Europe grant on buccal administration of peptides.
He serves as Chief Editor of "Frontiers in Drug Delivery" and was appointed by Ireland's Minister of Health as Chairperson to the National Research Ethics Committees on Clinical Trials (D). Dr. Brayden obtained his PhD from the University of Cambridge, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University in the US before spending 10 years at Elan Biotechnology Research.
Randy Mrsny is Professor of Drug Delivery at the University of Bath, where his research examines mechanisms controlling trans-epithelial migration and tight junction regulation, as well as the fate of biopharmaceuticals in subcutaneous and intramuscular spaces.
He was the Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Applied Molecular Transport (now Cyclo Therapeutics), which directed the advancement of technology utilising endogenous pathways for efficient epithelial transcytosis. His career includes leadership roles at ALZA Corporation, Genentech, and as founder of Trinity BioSystems and Unity Pharmaceuticals.
Dr. Mrsny has served as President of the Controlled Release Society, been selected to its College of Fellows, and received its Founders Award. He was selected for the Medicine Maker 100 power list in 2015 and 2016. Dr. Mrsny has a BSc in Biochemistry and Biophysics from the University of California and a PhD in Human Anatomy and Cell Biology from the UCD School of Medicine.
Christopher Porter is Director of the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS) at Monash University in Melbourne, with research focused on the absorption distribution and elimination profiles of drugs, as well as developing novel formulation approaches to optimise these profiles.
He has published over 270 peer reviewed papers, his research programmes have attracted over $35 million in funding, and is an inventor on more than 15 separate patent families. He is a Clarivate Analytics highly cited researcher, a fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists and an Editorial Board member for Molecular Pharmaceutics, Pharmaceutical Research and the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Dr. Porter obtained his BPharm and PhD in Pharmaceutics from the University of Nottingham.