DPI developer Iconovo announced that it has received a $883,800 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for development of a nasal inhaler based on the company’s ICOone single dose device. In March 2021, Iconovo announced that it was developing a nasal version of the ICOone inhaler for use with an ISR COVID-19 vaccine and later said that it had received an order from ISR for clinical trial supplies of the device.
According to Iconovo, the Gates Foundation grant is intended to fund development of “a nasal inhaler that can be rapidly upscaled for industrial manufacturing to produce millions of inhalers at the highest standard,” and the overall goal is “to establish a fast track for inhaled therapies that will facilitate improved global healthcare, primarily in low- and middle-income countries, in the event of a new virus pandemic.”
The company said that it will use the funds for lab equipment, modeling, and characterization work necessary for optimization of the ICOone Nasal device. The resulting inhaler will be manufactured to GMP standards and should be capable of delivering either carrier based or API-only formulations.
Iconovo CEO Johan Wäborg commented, “The covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of making medicines and vaccines for airway infections available both widely and quickly. When the next pandemic strikes, or if the current one endures, there should be an inhaler in place that allows for fast, cost-effective development and simplified global distribution of new inhaled treatments. There is great inequality in the distribution of medicines across the globe today and we can be part of changing that with our ICOone platform. We are happy and proud that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has given us the opportunity to take a lead in this important work.”
Read the Iconovo press release.
