Dissolution is also key to understanding the relationship between deposition and PK, Lee said. While previous studies have used samples collected through a cascade impactor, he noted, in new studies using Nanopharm’s UniDose system, which deposits the total dose uniformly onto a single membrane under laminar flow, the rate of dissolution becomes independent of drug loading.
Lee showed data from tests using the UniDose system that show a linear relationship between mean in vivo absorption time and dissolution half life for selected commercially available inhaled drugs, suggesting that dissolution testing has the potential to predict in vivo performance provided that dissolution is the rate limiting step.
In the technology exhibit, one of the biggest trends apart from connected devices was the participation of a number of first-time exhibitors, including spray drying specialist Flurry Powders, desiccant supplier Clariant, which was promoting its EQ line of relative humidity stabilizers for inhalers; Molex, which acquired Irish injection molding and assembly company Protek Medical in 2015. Two other device manufacturing companies, SMC and Solize, were also exhibiting at RDD for the first time.
Other companies exhibiting at the meeting included Astech Projects, Capsugel, CD-adapco, Copley Scientific, Gateway Analytical, Intertek Melbourn, Livermore Instruments, Nemera, Next Breath, Proveris Scientific, and Team Consulting.
While most of the meeting focused on the future, a few gatherings took time to appreciate the successes of the past. 3M DDS titled its Platinum Sponsor Seminar “From Ancient Egypt to Smart Inhalers: The History of Respiratory Drug Delivery,” and approximately 65 people attending the AAPS Inhalation and Nasal Technology Focus Group (INTFG) meeting heard another review of the past 60 years of MDI development from David Lechuga-Ballesteros and Peter Mack of Pearl Therapeutics.
Upcoming RDD meetings include RDD Asia, which will take place in Goa, India, November 8-11, 2016 and RDD Europe, which will return to Antibes, France in April 2017. RDD 2018 will be held in Tuscon, Arizona.
