Unit 3 – Medical and Pharmaceutical Engineering: Non-Destructive Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Research Centre specialises in multi-particulate system design and development from the perspectives of material science, formulation strategy, processing and equipment design. The multi-particulate system, from nano, micro to millimetre scale, fits the requirements of dosage form for use to personalise one’s therapy. To enable the delivery system meeting the required pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics performances of the drugs, the multi-particulate system is subjected to physicochemical modification where targeting ligands, penetration enhancer and other functional excipients are introduced. Its use is combined with novel active technology or administration approach as a function of the route of drug administration.

With reference to skin drug delivery, Unit 3 – Medical and Pharmaceutical Engineering: Non-Destructive Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Research Centre represents the first entity worldwide that investigates the potential of precision microwave to facilitate the nanoparticulate drugs to overcome the skin barrier, with the aim to promote skin drug retention and/or systemic drug permeation for the treatment of melanoma and diabetes. Microwave is regarded as a skin penetration enhancer where electrical shock, unnecessary physical disposal, high risks of skin burn, edema and irritation are not found, unlike iontophoresis, electroporation, microneedles, sonophoresis and laser methods.  

In the case of oral drug delivery, the global first colon-specific coatless pellets, in vivo instead of fluid - bed coated spheroids, and nanoparticles-in microagglomerate systems are designed for tissue- and cell-specific delivery of cancer therapeutics and related actives. These designs translate to ease of dosage form manufacturing industrially, reduction of delivery performance irreproducibility and enabling of nanoparticulate drugs to survive the harsh gastrointestinal tract without signs of premature release in the upper gut. The nanoparticles-on-microparticles delivery system is developed to carry the nanoparticulate drugs into deep and peripheral lungs for cancer and infection control. The current system allows reformulation of nanoparticulate drugs without affecting their nanoscale that is critical to biological actions.