Interview with Prof. Ian Tucker
1) As your general research area includes tablet formulation, what would you say
about a tablet?
It consists of :
- A drug with excipients which control the flow properties, compression and compaction
of the tablets.
- Disintegrant which will absorb water to form granulates.
- Lubricants (eg. magnesium stearate) which are important in ejecting the tablets out of the
dye.
- Thin layer of coated polymer
- Colourant coating to colour the tablets
- Pacifier to make the coat opaque so that the light cannot get through the drugs.
2) What are the important factors of consideration in making a formulation?
Generally, there are three essential factors:
-To deliver the right dose in a convenient dosage form to the patient.
-To ensure the medicine is stable and doesn’t degrade easily.
-To control drug release behavior in the body.
3) Can you tell us your working experience in creating medicine for animals?
- I had a long standing interest in animal medicine way back when I finished PhD.
- I was granted a scholarship from government research institute in Australia, called
CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation). I was able to
go overseas, then got back and spent a year with CSIRO.
- I worked with a group of scientists with sheep on how to get the wool from the sheep
without shaving them by giving them injection of a particular drug which then causes the
wool to fall off
- Now working with a veterinary pharmaceutical company in New Zealand.
Had done some work for them and they want to be expert in mastitis (a bacterial
infection of the udder of cow) in dairy cattle.
- 25% of New Zealand export earnings come from dairy products
- Mastitis caused New Zealand a loss of 280 million dollars/year in milk production and
having to kill cows which are repeatedly infected.
- This company established a mastitis research center involving people from the company,
my group, University of Otago, Massey University and Auckland University.
4) What are the animals that you work on and why?
We work with dairy cattle.
ADVANTAGES
 Work with target species
 Obtain cows easily in New Zealand
DISADVANTAGES
 A cow cost about 2,000 dollars
 More difficult to work with a 500 kg cow, compared to a 300g rat
WHY NOT USE MICE ?
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Working on rats with the mastitis medicine will not be that useful
Distance of cow’s udder to the teats is longer than the rat
Not much relevant data on the distribution of the drug
The mammary gland of the mouse is small, diffusion is important. So, we do
not use it.
HOW DID THE MEDICINE SPREAD?
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The medicine is administered through the teats and spread to the whole region.
It is difficult question to ask how it is spread within the whole udder as no one
knows.
It is certainly not a diffusion as diffusion from the teats to the udder by judging
the distance will take years.
Probably there are convection and mixing going on.
5) Are there any ethics you have to practice when doing research in animals (New
Zealand)?
We are dealing with production animals such as the cow that produces milk and meat.
There are two approval we need to be done.
Firstly,
- Approval of the ethics committee.
- To make sure the work is done in an ethnical way which respects the animal welfare.
Next,
- Get approval from regulatory body, ACVM (Agriculture, Compounds & Veterinary
Medicines) that controls the standard of food producing animals
- Due to the fact that we are carrying out studies on milk producing animals, the milk
must be discarded and cannot get into the food chain.
6) How long does it takes to approve?
It probably takes about 40 - 50 days or 6 - 7 weeks to get the approvals. We have to plan
ahead but it’s okay to do so.
7) Are there any differences on formulation and delivery of bioactive between human
and veterinary?
-
A lot of things are the same. They differ in the dosing and flavor of the medicines.
For instant, dogs prefer tablets that have the taste of meat.
For ruminants, such as cows, sheep and goats, they have the intraruminal device which
controls the release of drugs into them.
This device can be filled with different parasitic drug to avoid resistance. It is also used
to deliver trace element such cobalt. This is important in cows that graze on the cobalt
deficiency grass. This device will sit in the ruminants for 6 months or 2 years.
8) Is this your first trip in Malaysia?
Actually I had been here for five times. I was here in June and really ‘lucky’ enough to
experience the hazy condition in Malaysia at that moment. Besides, I had been to KL and
Penang before. Malaysia is a nice place and I will be back in UKM again next year.
9) Pharmacy practice in Malaysia vs New Zealand ?
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In my opinion, the biggest difference is the ratio of graduates in community and hospital
pharmacies.
In New Zealand, there are about 85-90% of graduates will be going to community
pharmacy while only 10-15% work in hospital.
In comparison, obviously hospital pharmacy is a trend in Malaysia as there are large
proportion of graduates will go for it instead of community pharmacy.
About separation policy…
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Separating drug prescribing (physicians) and dispensing (pharmacists) right was
implemented years ago.
In advanced, we are running a course to train pharmacist about prescribing’s skill. That
means there will be prescribing pharmacist in New Zealand soon.
However, they are not allowed to dispense the medicine that they prescribe. We must
separate their authorities otherwise there could be a conflict of interest.
Due to this separation policy implemented, community pharmacist grows much stronger
than hospital pharmacist as they are closest to the community to provide them medicine
and healthcare service.
Inversely, community pharmacist in Malaysia doesn’t dispense much but they rely on
other fun shop stuff to make profit.
10) Are all the pharmacies in New Zealand standard pharmacies?
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Not all, actually.
Some pharmacies are operated by shopkeeper too especially for those which located in
shopping mall or in small town.
They sell cosmetics, shampoo and natural product or medicine. Some of them sell
homeopathic medicine too.
I personally think that kind of medicine is not so trustable since it doesn’t have scientific
proves.
11) Do you have any idea for your next research project?
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I’m still working on mastitis to invent new medicine related to it.
We are progressing well and hopefully our new medicine can be introduced to the
market soon.
We promise to work on it continually as we think that we can always do better.
12) Do you have any advice for pharmacy students in UKM?
Be well-balanced people. Try to live a balanced life. As a student, we would not forget to
spend enough time on study. However, the reason to study is not for us to pass the
examination but to acquire knowledge to help needy people in future. In addition, social
life, sports and spiritual growth could enlighten our lives too. Learn to appreciate the
world more and fulfill your university life. This cultivates you to stand strong in the
society so that you can help people through the best use of medicine.