Inhaled Oxytocin Project receives Accelerating Commercialisation grant

The Inhaled Oxytocin Project team. L-R: Dr Tri-Hung Nguyen, Andrew McArthur, Professor Michelle McIntosh, Professor Carl Kirkpatrick, Nicole McMillan, Pete Lambert.

20 January 2022

A MIPS research initiative aimed at preventing postpartum haemorrhage, the leading cause of maternal mortality globally, has received just under $500,000 from the Commonwealth Government’s Accelerating Commercialisation fund.

The Inhaled Oxytocin Project is developing a heat-stable powder formulation of oxytocin that, when inhaled, aims to provide protection against postpartum haemorrhage comparable to existing gold standard injection products.

The simple aerosol delivery system combining an affordable, disposable device with novel formulation technology eliminates the need for cold chain storage and overcomes the barriers associated with injection delivery.

This innovative approach will be particularly significant for increased access to potentially life-saving treatment in resource-poor settings, where a large number of women give birth outside medical facilities or in understaffed and ill-equipped clinics with limited or no refrigeration facilities.

The $490,222 grant will be used to complete an important clinical trial that will facilitate late-stage development and commercialisation of inhaled oxytocin to allow global  access,  delivering the product into the hands of those that need it most.

The team is led by Professor Michelle McIntosh, whose early proof of concept oxytocin delivery research was recognised in 2011 by the then-US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton as having the potential to be transformational in the field of maternal healthcare. The current work towards clinical trial is timely validation of this early confidence in the approach.

Early development of the project received support from the McCall MacBain Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada, Saving Lives at Birth and Planet Wheeler and our development partner GlaxoSmithKline. Current collaborators include Johnson & Johnson, the McCall MacBain Foundation and Victorian state government.

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