125 stories for 125 years

Barry Reed

After completing the last year of the old apprenticeship course in 1962, which included time at both the Swanston Street site and the new Parkville campus, Barry Reed joined the staff as a demonstrator upon graduation in 1963.

Barry’s career has been in pharmaceutics, where he has been Professor of Biopharmaceutics for 30 years. His research interests are in the delivery of drugs through the skin.

In 1998, the company Acrux was established to commercialise ‘spray-on’ drug delivery technology discovered by Professor Barry Reed, Dr Tim Morgan and Professor Barrie Finnin through their transdermal drug delivery research program. The metered dose transdermal spray is currently being developed and used in clinical trials. Two Acrux products are in the final stage of development for the United States market.

Barry is widely known in the pharmacy community. He has served on the Medicines Evaluation Committee since its inception and on the Proprietary Medicines Advisory Committee since June 1984. Barry has also been President of the Pharmacy Board of Victoria for nine years and a member of the Board since October 1986.

Barry notes that ‘present day pharmacy courses are becoming more like the four year apprenticeship course I started almost 48 years ago!’