Sticky stuff chemist wins fellowship for drug development

Research into sticky substances wins prestigious fellowship grant for industry collaboration

Professor Vitaliy Khutoryanskiy is recognised for his work, which utilises adhesive substances in pharmaceutical preparations, with a Royal Society Industry Fellowship.

The award is worth £180K and supports the University’s continuing work to use its research expertise to help support business and innovation.

Professor Khutoryanskiy, from the Reading School of Pharmacy, said: “When we treat an area of the body such as the mouth, eye or bladder, with topical medicine, there is a tendency for the drug to be washed away by the wet environment.

“This Fellowship is a great opportunity to see if we can make these drugs a bit more efficient. For example, we are working on substances that adhere well to the surfaces on and around the eye, and therefore increase the effectiveness of drug delivery via eye drops.”

The Industry Fellowship supports academics to split their time between an academic institution and an Industry partner. Professor Khutoryanskiy will be developing the collaboration between the University of Reading and Guildford based commercial stage pharmaceutical company, MC2 Therapeutics.

Together, the University and MC2 Therapeutics are seeking to apply knowledge about sticky substances to drug delivery.

Professor Khutoryanskiy’s Fellowship will run for four years and covers his salary, plus an allowance for research consumables.