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Research conducted by UEL's Drugs and Addictive Behaviours Research Group (DAB) and the UEL Institute for Research in Child Development (IRCD) from 1990-2012 has provided key information about the neuro-psychological risks of the use of the drug MDMA (Ecstasy).This information has been used by the US and UK governments, medical professionals and public information organisations. The research was included in the UK government Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD, 2009) review of MDMA effects and informed government and public debate on the legal classification of MDMA. It has also supported associated debates around the potential harmful effects of MDMA. Subsequent media and public engagement with those debates has contributed to increased public awareness of the effects and risks of MDMA and engaged new audiences with important social and scientific issues. More recent research has informed parents and medical practitioners about the potential harmful effects of MDMA on specific aspects of infant functioning when taken during pregnancy.
Our research on cannabis, ketamine and MDMA (ecstasy) has used pioneering methods to provide a unique new evidence-base on which illegal drugs can be evaluated. This work has influenced government policy and legal proceedings in the UK and abroad. We have engaged widely with drug users, other members of the public, drug services and the media to disseminate our findings widely, and increase public knowledge of the topic. Our research on the effects of recreational drug use thus has changed national and international media discourse about this topic, and has increased public awareness and engagement.
A new, more structured way of assessing the various harms done to individuals, families, communities and wider society by a range of legal and illegal drugs was first articulated by Professor David Nutt and colleagues at the University of Bristol. The "rational scale" they developed in the light of their research has stimulated extensive policy debate and informed drug classification in the UK and overseas. The research underpinning the scale has been disseminated through numerous public lectures and discussions and has stimulated worldwide media coverage. As a consequence, public awareness of drug harms has increased and public engagement in important debates about drugs has intensified.
The emergence of new psychoactive substances (NPS) in Europe over the last decade (including performance and image enhancing drugs), poses challenges to policy makers. These are substances which are frequently not controlled under law, and governments have struggled to address potential societal and health harms of use. We have analysed this drugs market, described the potential health harms of NPS, and generated evidence on effective intervention responses for some of these. Our findings have provided the necessary evidence to support the development of robust, responsive and predictive policy making at both national and international levels.
The health of people who inject illicit drugs, the formulation of harm-reduction policies, and the work of associated businesses and social enterprises have all benefited from the University's laboratory and practice research into the safety and efficacy of materials and equipment used in needle-exchange programmes. The research has informed the development of safer acids for injection preparation, safer injecting paraphernalia (e.g., spoons and filters) and an information film which has been distributed from needle exchanges on DVD and viewed over 50,000 times online. The research has led to enhanced support and protection for injecting drug misusers, and to advances in harm reduction in the UK, France and Canada.
The Emotional Test Battery (ETB) was developed by Goodwin, Harmer and others in Oxford from 1998 onwards. Notably, a person's performance on the ETB is sensitive to single doses of antidepressant drugs, even in healthy subjects, and without any change in mood. The ETB has played a key role in the success of P1Vital, a Clinical Research Organisation for experimental medicine, set up in 2004. The ETB has been responsible for ~60% of its business since 2008, worth over £9.5M and with 10 jobs created. Through P1Vital, the ETB has become a key part of the testing process for new antidepressants for several pharmaceutical companies, allowing substantial cost and time savings. For one antidepressant, the ETB results changed understanding of how the drug worked, and shaped its marketing.
Since 2010, the Recreational Drugs European Network (Rednet), a collaborative, Europe-wide project originating at Hertfordshire, has monitored and documented markets, consumption patterns and risks of `new drugs'. In 2012 one of the university's researchers developed the integrated SMS and email (`Smail') rapid response service to deliver accurate, up-to-date drug intelligence to frontline workers, including doctors and police. [text removed for publication]
Smail researchers have also assisted addiction specialists to mitigate harm arising from newly emerging intravenous abuse of Tropicamide.
University of Dundee-led research has changed the international approach to illicit drug deaths. Though reducing deaths was a national priority, no systematic research into Scottish deaths had previously occurred. Highlighting the heterogeneity of the deceased, Dundee researchers identified deficits in care processes and multi-agency data sharing, making recommendations regarding monitoring. This directly influenced government response, introducing a standardised mandatory annual review process, enhancing understanding of drug death in Scotland and facilitating targeted prevention approaches. This, and subsequent Dundee-led research, now informs strategy development in the UK via the national programme on Substance Abuse Deaths (np-SAD) and the European Union (European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction; EMCDDA).
Epilepsy, a condition that affects ca. 1% of the world's population, has severe clinical consequences; people with epilepsy (PWE) and poorly controlled seizures exhibit nearly an order of magnitude increase in premature death relative to the general population. About one-third of PWE do not benefit from treatment with currently approved medicines. Although historical evidence has suggested that cannabis might be useful in the control of epilepsy, work initiated by Drs Ben Whalley and Gary Stephens at University of Reading revealed that non-psychoactive components of cannabis can control epileptic seizures in animal models. This finding has led to a funded collaboration of ca £1.4M with GW Pharmaceuticals (UK) and Otsuka Pharmaceuticals (Japan) to establish a case for translation of two such components, cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabidavarin (CBDV), to human clinical drug trials. In particular, Reading research has resulted in GW trialling CBD (Phase 2, 50 participants, design stage) for a new indication of epilepsy treatment. A Phase 1 trial for CBDV (20 participants) began in July 2013, with a Phase 2 trial to begin immediately after successful completion of Phase 1. Results from the use of CBD on an open-label basis have shown major quality-of-life improvements for the patients concerned.
Research by Professor Abdul Basit's group at the UCL School of Pharmacy is leading to improved treatments for ulcerative colitis and other conditions through increased knowledge of the complex physiology of the gastrointestinal tract. Improved understanding of in vivo drug release and uptake has allowed development of three patent-protected technologies for improved drug delivery: PHLORALTM, for release of drugs in the colon, and DuoCoatTM and ProReleaseTM formulations designed to allow intact transit through the stomach followed by immediate release upon gastric emptying. These technologies are the subject of licences and ongoing development programmes, with PHLORALTM currently in phase III clinical trials. The impact is therefore the introduction of enabling technologies that have positively influenced the drug development programmes of pharmaceutical companies.