Hovione has announced the filing of an international patent for its new XCaps dry powder inhaler. According to the company, the XCaps DPI is “a device which only requires two steps to inhalation and which only has two components plus a dust cover,” and which it says can generate fine particle fractions greater than 70%.
XCaps is available for license as part of Hovione’s contract drug development program. Hovione VP Peter Villax, who co-invented the device, said, “We give our customers an edge in speed of development because we are perhaps the only independent company developing DPIs with expertise in every aspect of the inhaled drug development process.”
The device is capsule-based and designed to last for a month, according to information on the company’s web site. The patient places the capsule in a tray and slides the tray closed prior to inhalation.
Read the Hovione press release.
