In the afternoon, Stephen Jackson of King’s Health Partners, King’s College Hospital, who was originally scheduled to close out the meeting on Friday, presented his talk on the implications of ageing for inhaled drug treatment, including differences in renal and hepatic function and a changing ratio of body fat to water, which may mean that lipid-soluble drugs have increased half lives and water-soluble drugs decreased half lives in the elderly. Jackson also particularly warned that anticholinergic drugs are a major cause of delirium, a possible concern for elderly COPD patients treated with medications like tiotropium, aclidinium, or ipatropium.
During the remainder of the afternoon session, the 6 finalists for the Pat Burnell New Investigator Award presented their research. The finalists were:
• Mary Goud, The University of Sydney, “An Investigation Into Delivery of Theophylline for Inhalation”
• Amir Hakim, Imperial College & Royal Brompton Hospital, “The Impact of Drug Clearance on Duration of Action of Corticosteroids”
• Abhinav Kumar, King’s College London, “Inhaled Nanoparticles Develop a Complex Protein Corona of Biological Importance”
• Cláudia Moura, Hovione, “Screening and Optimization of Formulation and Process Parameters for the Manufacture of Inhalable Composite Particles by Spray-Drying”
• Laura Nicolaou, Imperial College, “An In Silico Laboratory for Patient-Specific Treatment of Asthma and COPD”
• Valentina Trotta, The University of Sydney, “Resveratrol, A Novel Spray Dried Inhalation Powder for the Treatment of COPD and other Inflammatory Lung Diseases.”
On the final day of DDL 25, Professor Neil Barnes began the session with a talk titled, “Future Development in Respiratory Therapy,” in which he discussed some possible new targets for asthma, COPD, and cough. The remainder of the day’s talks covered topics related to respiratory disease and biology.
In his talk on “Development of Inhalation Medicine from Scientific Discovery to Clinical Proof-of-Concept for Treatment of Life-Threatening Pulmonary Oedema,” Bernhard Fischer of APEPTICO credited DDL with teaching him everything he knows about aerosol medicine. Fischer described APEPTICO’s development of an inhaled peptide and delivery system for treating intubated patients suffering from pulmonary edema. The five-person company, he said, is also looking to develop a dry powder formulation that might be useful for treating altitude sickness.
Among the presenters in the final session were previous Pat Burnell New Investigator Award finalists Arcadia Woods, presenting a talk on “The Fate of Albumin Nanoparticles in the ‘Black Box’ of the Lung,” and Hui Xin Ong, who described a method for “Characterisation of Primary Air-Liquid Interface Culture of Nasal Epithelium for Nasal Drug Delivery” in the final presentation of the meeting.
