the future use of injectable medicines outside the hospital: Increasing capacity in the NHTransforming S
Lead Research Organisation:
UNIVERSITY OF BATH
Department Name: Pharmacy and Pharmacology
Abstract
Aseptic compounding is an area where practice has been transformed by the emergence of more complex, personalised medicines. The demands on aseptic dispensing are continually increasing, with clinical teams relying on increasingly complex compounds for treatments given every single day.
This Prosperity Partnership aims to create a platform that will transform the future use of injectable medicines in the UK and globally. We envisage, ultimately, a range of reformulated injectable medicines suited to the setting in which they are administered, whether in the community or a hospital, manufactured through an automated process dramatically reducing the demand placed on healthcare resource required to deliver them in whatever setting is appropriate. This potentially requires a wholesale reconfiguration of compounding service in England around a hub and spoke model with high degrees of standardisation and the adaption/adoption of new approaches to automation making more efficient use of resources both in pharmacy/compounding and in the nursing workforce transforming the use of injectable medicines. Underpinning the interlinked delivery of these medicines is a continual drive for extended shelf-lives (stability), simplicity in administration, volume of manufacture, supply chain and cost reduction.
Our project focusses on the nexus of these points, considering medicine formulation, manufacture and distribution as a whole system, where elements of the compounding process can occur across different sites, with different scalability and optimisation depending on both use/requirement and shelf-life/complexity of formulation and aseptic manufacturing facility requirements. This incorporates implementing robotics manufacturing and AI into the heavily regulated area of high variation medicines production.
This Prosperity Partnership aims to create a platform that will transform the future use of injectable medicines in the UK and globally. We envisage, ultimately, a range of reformulated injectable medicines suited to the setting in which they are administered, whether in the community or a hospital, manufactured through an automated process dramatically reducing the demand placed on healthcare resource required to deliver them in whatever setting is appropriate. This potentially requires a wholesale reconfiguration of compounding service in England around a hub and spoke model with high degrees of standardisation and the adaption/adoption of new approaches to automation making more efficient use of resources both in pharmacy/compounding and in the nursing workforce transforming the use of injectable medicines. Underpinning the interlinked delivery of these medicines is a continual drive for extended shelf-lives (stability), simplicity in administration, volume of manufacture, supply chain and cost reduction.
Our project focusses on the nexus of these points, considering medicine formulation, manufacture and distribution as a whole system, where elements of the compounding process can occur across different sites, with different scalability and optimisation depending on both use/requirement and shelf-life/complexity of formulation and aseptic manufacturing facility requirements. This incorporates implementing robotics manufacturing and AI into the heavily regulated area of high variation medicines production.
| Description | We have demonstrated that the ex-vivo simulator being used in this project (Scissor) is capable off effectively measuring the diffusion rates of antibiotics in the subcutaneous matrix. |
| Exploitation Route | Now that we have a method of assessing the physicochemical and pharmacokinetic behaviour of antibiotics in SC tissue, we can model their behaviour to predict compatibility with this route of administration. The ability to safely shift IV administration of many antibiotics towards sub-cutaneous administration can have enormous impact on reducing the number of patients needing to be admitted or treated in hospitals, as their care could be moved into the community. |
| Sectors | Healthcare Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
| Description | • Bath-Japan exploration of cognitive, AI and safety in robotics research, knowledge exchange and partnerships |
| Amount | £6,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | Award reference number: 6877 |
| Organisation | The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 02/2026 |
| End | 04/2026 |
| Description | • Towards a domain-agnostic AI-based human intent prediction framework for seamless human-robot collaboration |
| Amount | £84,250 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 2025-2931 |
| Organisation | British Council |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2026 |
| End | 12/2026 |
| Description | Advisory Group Member - NHS England |
| Organisation | NHS England |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Engagement with NHS England, Hospital Pharmacy Modernisation Team to serve as a member of our external Advisory Group. This membership allows our Team to update NHS England of the developments this Prosperity Partnership is making towards facilitating implementation of recommendations from the Carter report. The Hospital Pharmacy Modernisation Team is tasked with implementing Carter report recommendations into NHS practice. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The partner has agreed to provide time towards membership of our advisory board. They have also agreed to act as facilitator towards establishing future links with the manufacturing hubs currently being established within the NHS to deliver Carter report recommendations. |
| Impact | This collaboration is very recent, so outcomes/outputs are limited at this stage. One initial outcome has been the provision of time from the partner to serve on our Advisory board. |
| Start Year | 2025 |
| Description | Increasing Resilience of Drug Supply Networks using Automated Drug Compounding ('RAID-Comp') |
| Organisation | Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Utilising data from Royal United Hospital in Bath's pharmacy to model drug production behaviour in order to understand how an automated drug compounding system can best support staff |
| Collaborator Contribution | Provision of data from the pharmacy unit at Royal United Hospital in Bath on drug usage. Data sets created to capture key information on containers, as well as usage volume. |
| Impact | Partnership has only been created two months ago so it is too early for outputs. |
| Start Year | 2026 |
