A research team from the university obtained a patent document from the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property (SAIP) for the innovation of "a method for preparing excipients from date residues", by optimizing the exploitation of date residues after extracting the active substances from them, to produce excipients for nano-sized pharmaceutical tablets representing a new technology in the pharmaceutical field.

The research team, led by Dr. Fahad bin Mohammed Al-Mandaraj, with the participation of Dr. Thamer Ibrahim Ragab and Dr. Wael Abdul Hafiz Al-Shendi, was able to devise this optimal method for using nanotechnology to produce a pharmaceutical excipient in the critical nano-size with very distinct physical and chemical properties, and according to this invention It opens up new horizons in the field of pharmaceutical industry, allowing the rapid delivery of active substances in a short time, as well as reducing the concentration of active substances, and studies of this excipient (crystalline nano-cellulose) can be recommended in the manufacture of cancer drugs due to its outstanding properties in the rapid and easy delivery of the active substance to the affected organ.

This innovation is part of the "Patent Registration Project for University Affiliates" under the patronage of His Excellency the President of the University, Prof. Abdulrahman bin Hamad Al-Dawood, and one of the initiatives of the University Vice Presidency for Postgraduate Studies and Scientific Research represented by the Innovation and Intellectual Property Center. This project aims to raise the local and international ranking of the university in the number of patents registered for it, as well as to contribute in motivating university employees to transform their inventions and research ideas into protected products with an economic return, noting that the protection document granted is an output of the research project funded under the institutional funding initiative at the Deanship of Research.