About
Dr Adeniyi Olagunju is a Reader in the Department of Biochemistry, Cell and Systems Biology and a member of the Centre of Excellence for Long-acting Therapeutics (CELT) where ongoing cutting-edge innovative research will transform drug delivery strategies for major disease burdens. He leads the Perinatal Pharmacology Group within CELT. The perinatal period represents a critical developmental window during which the health and wellbeing of future generations is laid down. Research within the Perinatal Pharmacology Group is focused on broadening our understanding of drug safety and efficacy during pregnancy and lactation. Working across three domains (human-relevant in vitro modelling, in silico modelling and clinical research), our goal is to generate actionable knowledge that will facilitate early recommendations for safe use of medicines during the perinatal period. In previous projects we elucidated the impact of maternal adaptations, host genetics and/or drug-drug interactions on drug exposure during pregnancy and lactation.
Dr Olagunju’s vision for his research programme is to transform the assessment of drug safety during human pregnancy by developing a platform that will generate human pregnancy-relevant safety information early in drug development. This will facilitate decisions about situations where pregnant women can be safely included in early-phase clinical trials, enabling evidence-based, pregnancy-specific recommendations for potentially life-saving therapeutics. Ongoing work within the group is primarily funded by the Wellcome Trust.
The group also leads the following initiatives:
(1) PKRxiv (pronounced "PK archive"), a managed open access database and data visualization platform for post-print collaborative sharing of individual-level pharmacokinetic data and associated covariates. The overarching goal of this initiative is to extend the value of data from clinical pharmacology studies beyond the original study objectives by making them findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. It is part of a Wellcome funded research programme. To use PKRxiv or to learn more about its key features and functionalities, click here.
(2) The Community of Practice for Long-acting Therapeutics for Maternal and Paediatric Health: This includes more than 80 cross-sector stakeholders from 17 countries across 5 continents. Our primary aim is to catalyse the development and availability of long-acting therapeutics of value for maternal and paediatric health globally, including in low- and middle- income countries via online focus group discussions, workshops, webinars, surveys, annual in-person meetings and other innovative strategies. Read about this initiative here.
(3) LAPaL (the Long-acting Therapeutics Patents and Licences), a platform that tracks the clinical development, regulatory approval status and patents landscape of long-acting therapeutics globally. It is a collaboration with Medicines Patent Pool and the Long-acting Extended Release Antiretroviral Research Resource programme (LEAP). Click here to use LAPaL.