Organizers of DDL 2018 say that they are expecting over 800 OINDP specialists to attend this year’s iteration of the Drug Delivery to the Lungs meeting, to be held December 12-14 in Edinburgh, UK.
According to DDL 2018 committee members Phil Haywood and David Harris, the exhibition hall has been reconfigured to allow up to 100 companies to introduce their latest technology and services, and the program will allow attendees to spend a bit of additional time in the exhibition and poster sessions compared to previous years. Otherwise, the program will remain close to the format that has proven to be extremely popular and successful in the past, with talks on a wide variety of subjects relevant to OINDPs.
In addition, IPAC-RS will host a pre-conference workshop on “Global Regulatory Topics in Orally-Inhaled and Nasal Drug Product (OINDP) Development” on the morning of December 12. According to IPAC-RS, the workshop “will address current key issues and industry’s positions regarding the 2018 US FDA draft guidance for MDIs and DPIs, the European Medical Device Regulations, and pharmacopeial updates.” Separate registration is required for the workshop, which is free for students and £50 for academic and industry attendees.
The DDL meeting itself will begin on the afternoon of December 12 with the annual DDL lecture, presented by Reinhard Vehring of the University of Alberta on “Mechanistic Understanding of Microparticle Formation in Respiratory Applications,” which Haywood cites, along with a talk by Kimberly Witzmann of the FDA on “Critical importance of excipients in generic product development – now and the future,” as one of the presentations likely to generate the widest interest.
“Another topic that really interests me, and I’m sure a lot of the pharmaceutical development guys,” Haywood says, “is ‘Three drugs in one inhaler for COPD – Where are we going with triple therapy?'” — a talk by Brian Lipworth of the Scottish Centre for Respiratory Research — “some people say its a great thing, others say it’s a bloody awful idea, so I think that could create a lot of interest.”
Harris is particularly interested to hear GSK Medical Expert David Mannino’s presentation on big data for respiratory medicines and a talk by Philip Ind of Imperial College London on “Cannabis, Cigarette Smoking and Lung Function.” Harris himself will give a presentation in the style of the Royal Society’s Christmas lectures, including audience participation, on “Understanding the Inspiratory Manoeuvre and Why it’s Important to DPI Design.”
