Hydrogen Storage Materials for Clean Cars
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A recent study by the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) assessed the economic impact of research and development (R&D) using neutron beams for drug development. This research has been instrumental in optimizing drug formulations by characterizing the effects of stabilizers on drug stability.
The RTI study found that neutron-based research played a key role in formulating GLP-1 drugs, a class of medications for weight loss in Type 2 diabetes and obesity. These drugs are expected to improve public health and reduce medical costs in countries where obesity significantly drives healthcare expenditures.
RTI estimated that, in the U.S., the use of these drugs between 2022 and 2030 will result in $42 billion in healthcare savings, based on a single cohort of obese patients starting treatment immediately. Of this, $16 billion is attributed to research using neutron beams, assuming it accelerated commercialization by just two years. Scaling this impact to Canada, with its lower healthcare spending and obesity rates, results in an estimated benefit of $640 million.
Neutron beam techniques—particularly small-angle neutron scattering (SANS)—contribute to drug development in two major ways:
- Optimizing Drug Stability – SANS helps quantify peptide and protein aggregation and assess how stabilizers influence peptide behavior. This knowledge is crucial for preventing aggregation and improving drug formulation.
- Enhancing Drug Delivery Systems – SANS allows researchers to observe drug molecules within nanoparticle delivery systems, aiding in the development of more stable, controlled-release, and effective therapeutics.
Canada has contributed to GLP-1 drug development in several ways, from discovering GLP-1 to understanding its weight-loss effects and conducting clinical trials. However, much of the neutron-based research on GLP-1 drugs has been led by U.S. scientists at U.S. neutron facilities.
Due to the lack of a SANS instrument in Canada, Canadian researchers have had to seek access to foreign facilities for such studies. However, with a SANS instrument now being commissioned at the Canadian Neutron Beam Laboratory (planned to be operated by Neutrons Canada in the coming years as part of a national neutron beam program), Canada will soon be able to conduct more of this critical research domestically.
