Sheffield team to develop patch that treats oral lichen planus
A condition for which there is no cure could be treated more effectively following EPSRC-funded research being carried out in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Sheffield University.
With £471,789 in funding, the three-year project will develop a patch that can stay in the mouth to treat oral lichen planus (OLP), a chronic inflammatory mucocutaneous disease that presents itself as white, red and/or ulcerative lesions of the oral mucosa, which is the moist tissue that lines parts the body including the mouth.
Drugs including steroids are available to treat OLP, but there is currently no effective way to administer them. Steroids also come with side effects and the relatively high doses needed to treat OLP can exacerbate them.
Now, Professor Ipsita Roy and Dr David Alexander Gregory will develop a solution that delivers the drug locally and in a spatially selective manner. Professor Roy explained that this would facilitate a much lower dosage of therapeutic.
A significant challenge, however, is to develop an adhesive that works in the wet environment of the mouth where tissue is highly mobile.
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