Approved IHKB Project List

Principle Investigator: Oliver O’Connor

Lay Summary: This study is testing a new treatment, called ETH47, to see if it can help prevent asthma flare-ups (exacerbations) triggered by viral infections, especially respiratory viruses like the common cold (rhinovirus). ETH47 is an experimental drug based on mRNA technology (whichworks by delivering synthetic messenger RNA into cells, which instructs them to produce specific proteins that help prevent or treat disease), which is designed to boost the body's immune response against viruses.
Asthma exacerbations are often caused by respiratory viruses, and these exacerbations can make asthma worse, leading to more health problems and even death. Currently, there are no specific antiviral drugs for these viruses. Early treatment with antiviral medications could help lessen the severity of viral infections and prevent asthma flare-ups, which would help protect lung health.

In this trial, researchers will test if ETH47 can help prevent exacerbations caused by rhinovirus in people with asthma. To join the study, participants must meet certain criteria. People who already have antibodies to the virus (meaning they’ve been exposed to it recently) won’t be included. The study will last for up to 9 weeks and will require participants to visit the clinic 16 times.

Participants will either receive ETH47 or a placebo an inactive substance , starting the day before they are exposed to the virus. Before the infection, doctors will test their lung function, perform allergy skin tests, and do chest X-rays to confirm they have asthma.

Throughout the study, participants aged between 18 – 65 will give samples like blood, nasal secretions, and breath samples. These will help doctors measure how the body responds to the treatment and to the virus. Researchers will also track participants’ asthma symptoms and lung function to see if ETH47 helps reduce exacerbations and improves overall asthma control.
At the end of the study, the goal is to see if ETH47 can reduce asthma exacerbations and improve lung health for people with diagnosed asthma.

Project ID: NIBDAPC_2025_0054

Approval Date: 03/12/2025

Principle Investigator: Alastair Webb

Lay Summary: We can see the effects of chronic changes to the blood vessels deep inside the brain on a brain scan as people get older. This is called ‘small vessel disease’ but is present in the majority of older people and is often a feature just of ageing. However, when these changes become more severe they are one of the most frequent reasons people have strokes, bleeds in the brain or develop dementia. However, we currently can’t treat these changes as we don’t fully understand why this happens, or what medications to use. This is partly because these changes vary a lot from one person to another and we don’t have good ways of measuring what is wrong with the blood vessels.

This research study aims to improve our understanding of cerebral small vessel disease to identify new ways to treat it. In particular, we aim to include a much broader range of people with small vessel disease than in previous studies, which have usually only included people who have already either had a strokes or already have difficulties with their thinking. We will then do more detailed measurements of how their blood vessels work, how the condition affects them, and then to continue to keep in touch with people to understand what medical difficulties they develop in the future.

Project ID: NIBDAPC_2025_0050

Approval Date: 27/10/2025

Principle Investigator: Chris Butler

Lay Summary: The aim of our research is to develop a new method for treating Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), which works by stimulating a part of the brain important for memory (called the hippocampus). This is done using a form of electrical stimulation called temporal interference (TI) stimulation, delivered by electrodes (small discs capable of delivering electricity) placed on the scalp. Normally, electricity delivered in this way can’t penetrate deep into the brain (where the hippocampus is located), but our new method of TI stimulation uses two sources of electricity which, when delivered together, overlap deep in the brain to stimulate the hippocampus effectively. 
 
Previous work has shown this approach to be safe in healthy younger adults  (with no history of neurological or psychiatric illness) and those with Alzheimer’s Disease, but what we do not yet know is whether it works at improving memory. This study, a clinical trial of TI brain stimulation, is designed to detect any beneficial effects of the stimulation on memory in people with Alzheimer’s Disease. If a positive effect is found, this new method of brain stimulation may be a useful future treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease.

Project ID: NIBDAPC_2025_0050

Approval Date: 27/10/2025

Principle Investigator: David Owen

Lay Summary: Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia, affecting nearly one million people in the UK. It causes progressive memory loss, confusion, and a decline in daily functioning. There is currently no treatment that slows or stops its progression. Emerging research suggests that damage to small blood vessels in the brain, particularly to endothelial cells (which are the cells lining the blood vessels), may play a role in the disease.
Normally, when a part of the brain is active, blood flow increases to support it. In people with AD, this response is often disrupted. The purpose of this study is to find out if we can improve blood vessel function in people with AD using a drug called XBD173. This drug targets a protein in the brain called the 18kDa Translocator Protein (TSPO), which plays a role in how cells handle stress and inflammation.

Participants with Alzheimer’s will receive either XBD173 or a placebo (an inactive substance) for four weeks, then switch to the other treatment after a break. Brain scans and blood tests will be used to measure how well the blood vessels are working before and after treatment. Healthy volunteers will also be recruited to help optimise the brain scan method and provide comparison data, but they will not receive the drug. Healthy volunteers must have no history or symptoms of cognitive impairment or dementia. To take part, you also need to be able to have an MRI scan, not be pregnant or breastfeeding, and not have serious lung or kidney problems. 

By studying how this treatment affects brain blood flow and related biomarkers, we hope to gain insights into a new way of treating Alzheimer’s disease.

Project ID: NIBDAPC_2025_0049

Approval Date: 16/07/2025

Principle Investigator: David Owen

Lay Summary: Cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD) affects the smaller blood vessels in the brain. It is common in older people and is thought to contribute to almost half of all dementia cases and at least one quarter of all strokes. It affects memory and thinking, balance, coordination and mood.

Typically, blood flow to particular areas in the brain increases when the area becomes more active. This ensures that the brain gets enough blood at the right place and time. In people with cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD), this process is disrupted, and the increased blood flow in response to activity is decreased or absent. Damage to the endothelial cells is a key pathological process in cSVD. Endothelial cells form the layer that lines the inside of blood vessels, and play a crucial role in controlling blood flow and maintaining blood vessel health. The aim of this study is to find out whether endothelial cell function and blood flow in cSVD can be improved by altering the function of a protein called 18kDa Translocator Protein (TSPO). We will do this by using a drug called XBD173, which binds to TSPO.

cSVD patients will be recruited from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. This is a double-blind, randomised, crossover study. This means that each participant receives the drug XBD173 and a placebo at different times, the order of which is decided by chance, and neither the participant nor the researchers know which intervention they are receiving. Participants will be invited to the clinical research facility (CRF) at Hammersmith Hospital and randomised to receive the drug XBD173 or matched placebo, twice daily, for 4 weeks. After a 6-week break where no drug is taken, participants will be switched to receive the other intervention. The study visits will involve MRI scans and blood tests to assess endothelial cell function.

Healthy volunteers will also be recruited to help define and optimise the MRI scanning procedure, and provide control images . They will attend for a single MRI scan and not receive the drug XBD173.

Project ID: NIBDAPC_2025_0044

Approval Date: 11/04/2025

Principle Investigator: Onn Min Kon

Lay Summary: People who smoke and have chronic bronchitis and emphysema (now recognised as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD) often experience a worsening of their symptoms (an ‘exacerbation’) after they catch a cold. However, this does not occur in every individual with COPD, and not every cold leads to an exacerbation or illness. 

The aim of this research is to test a new therapeutic drug (vapendavir) in a double blinded placebo-controlled Phase 2a clinical trial that may act to reduce or even prevent the increases in symptoms in individuals with COPD when they catch a cold. A double blinded, placebo controlled clinical trial means that neither the patient nor study team are aware which patients are receiving the investigational drug or placebo, to remove any possible bias. A phase 2a clinical trial is a type of study that is looking to investigate the safety and effectiveness of a treatment, providing a “proof of concept” for an investigational medicine

The study will involve participants experiencing an infection with a common cold virus (not everybody who gets given the virus gets infected). Depending on whether, and how quickly participants’ symptoms develop, they may be assigned at random to take an experimental drug (vapendavir) or placebo for 7 days. By doing this, we will be able to determine if the possible increase in symptoms individuals with COPD may experience when they get a cold is improved by treatment with vapendavir.

If successful, the drug vapendavir could have a large impact on how we may treat individuals with COPD in the future. In addition, we will have the opportunity to measure a number of different proteins (called biomarkers) to better understand how the treatment works, and how virus infections cause a worsening of symptoms in people with COPD.

As the trial is nearly completed to recruitment, we have not done any study specific patient involvement and engagement prior to submission, however we are going to commit to disseminating results using lay language to the public and key COPD stakeholders through various channels. We will also commit to involving and engaging the public for any future research proposals.

Project ID: NIBDAPC_2024_0036

Approval Date: 25/10/2024