2016 Press Releases

UCC-led EU network PEARRL launched

28 Nov 2016
Dr Brendan Griffin from the School of Pharmacy, UCC, is Project Coordinator of PEARRL.

The Horizon 2020-funded PEARRL Network, led by UCC’s School of Pharmacy and aiming to achieve earlier patient access to new medicines, has been launched.

PEARRL (Pharmaceutical Education and Research with Regulatory Links), is a European Training Network, which seeks to discover innovative drug formulation strategies and biopharmaceutics tools with regulatory application.

The PEARRL project brings together 18 leading European institutions, including Pharma industry (9), academia (5) and regulatory agency (4) partners in a multi-sectorial team to deliver a unique research and training programme.

Fifteen early stage researchers will be recruited in PEARRL, to focus on research into developing drug formulation strategies to enable accelerated approval and reduced cost of development, in turn facilitating earlier patient access to breakthrough therapies.

Dr Brendan Griffin from the School of Pharmacy, UCC, is Project Coordinator of PEARRL, which is funded under the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and Marie Sklodowska-Curie innovation programme to the value of €3.9 million.

“There is an increased societal need to ensure that new drugs are developed into new medicines as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible. The PEARRL network brings together academia, industry and regulatory partners in an EU wide partnership, with a collective goal of developing new approaches to accelerate earlier access for patients to emerging drug candidates,” said Dr Griffin.

“Within PEARRL, our research will develop novel drug delivery technology, new screening methods and innovative models to forecast drug levels in humans, which will collectively streamline the development of new oral medicines. In addition, PEARRL will provide a unique training network for developing the next generation of leading pharmaceutical and regulatory scientists.”

PEARRL will join forces with industry connections Janssen, Merck, Pharmathen, Sirius and Biorelevant.com, in addition to collaborating with regulatory organisations EMA, HRPA, BfArM and MHRA.

The project will strengthen Europe`s scientific excellence in academia through its partner universities University College Cork, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University (Frankfurt), National Kapodistrian University of Athens, University of Applied Sciences & Arts Northwestern Switzerland, and the University of Bath.

For press queries, contact Gregory Higgins, Marketing and Communications, College of Medicine and Health, UCC, on 086-158 6235.

University College Cork

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