Spotlight on Dr Mohammed Maniruzzaman
Research Fellow in Pharmaceutical Formulations / Particle Engineering
Previous Research
My motto is hard work
I was 17 when I came to the UK from Bangladesh. With a language barrier and at a time of economic crisis, I had to work day and night just to earn my living costs. I was awarded my PhD at the age of 23, I was the youngest PhD holder in Bangladesh and in the UK from an overseas country.
I always thought I’d like to be part of creating innovations whilst helping human beings. Dealing with medicines ticks both of these boxes. I conduct innovative research to fill in the gap between the market need and whatever is available. Drugs are like poisons, that's where someone like me comes in, to translate them into a controlled form, a commercial product, so that they can help people.
In 2014 I attended the Bill Gates Foundation camp in Greenwich. The challenge was to develop tasteless medicine for children with pneumonia which could be administered without the need of any clean water, as the availability of clean water can be a real challenge, particularly for Sub-Saharan African countries.
I came up with the idea of ODTs - orally disintegrating tablets which your saliva will dissolve. I conducted a study with adult volunteers who scored our 5 different pills as having no taste, compared to the pure drug, which scored as being extremely bitter. However, it is prohibited to test the products directly with children, which is a dilemma in getting regulatory approval for the new product. Following the adult study two companies in Japan and France have developed an electronic tongue that mimics the taste sensory parts of the human being, regardless of age or ethnicity. They found that, yes our formulations were indeed tasteless.
Current Research
Now the challenge is how to reduce the cost of drug production…
Currently there is no continuous manufacturing platform. There are a lot of intermediate stages performed before medicines are put on the shelf. Pharmaceutical industrialists individually produce steps of the production in different rooms, then they mix it together and pass it through a machine, to get the products.
My group at Sussex is trying to achieve a continuous manufacturing platform and integrate all steps in one machine, which would save the UK pharmaceutical industry billions of pounds. This platform is versatile and universal for all drugs. Manufacturing time would be reduced by 50% and production cost will be reduced by more than 50%. Also there will be no chance of variability between the qualities of the batches anymore. The money saved can be invested in further cutting edge technologies.
We already have 3 patents and aiming to have another 1 in the area of continuous manufacturing platform and pharmaceutical technology.
We’re working with a company in Europe and should have the first commercial product manufactured and tested in clean room environment by the end of the year. The commercialisation of the product will then follow shortly after. If my funder and the University can exploit my patents and trademark commercially, the continuous manufacturing platform will be one of the blockbuster technologies in the world, it will bring a real change.
The Future
If I want to be at the forefront, I have to look to the future.
Our target was to get around 10 or 11 papers this year. We have already hit the target so why don’t we increase the target?! I think the new target will be another 5 by Christmas.
In the future I want to give a pharmaceutical manufacturing industry to every patient.
Using 3D printing to make medicines is not new anymore, but using a hand held printer, like a smart phone, that’s new. For example take people who suffer from diabetic conditions, whose dose changes significantly over days. If I can develop a system that sends information to a smart phone or a hand held smart device, which then designs the unit they need, their own small 3D printer can print the medicine.
The formulation scientists, like me, will provide the raw materials, the 'printing ink' which will contain the drug.
I know it sounds crazy. But it is completely possible and it is not very difficult. In future you'll be able to manufacture your own medicines.
I believe in God, I'm Muslim and of course I believe in hard work. Hard work is something that will make you.