Patient-centric products
During the Inhalation 5.0 panel discussion, Carla Vozone pointed out that the pandemic engendered a huge amount of innovation in nasal vaccines and immunostimulants and mentioned recent innovations in unit dose nasal devices as opportunities for self-administered needle-free vaccination, putting patients in charge of their own health. Throughout the meeting, presenters and exhibitors discussed the benefits of nasal delivery (especially of nasal powders), nebulizers, and soft mist inhalers not only for their ability to deliver large molecules but also for ease of use for a large variety of patient populations.
At the beginning of the scientific program, Mike Hindle of Virginia Commonwealth University presented the keynote address, titled, “It’s All About Delivery: Pre-clinical Development of a Surfactant Powder Aerosol Product.” Hindle, who recently discussed his work on development of the dry powder surfactant for the treatment of respiratory distress syndrome in premature infants when he presented the 2024 DDL Annual Lecture at DDL 2024, provided an update on the project.
Most strikingly, he described a study using a chimeric CPAP animal model which evaluated an updated formulation delivered through a 3D-printed human infant nose-throat inserted into a rabbit model of respiratory distress syndrome. In another chimeric animal model study, the team investigated use of an interface with nasal cannulas for delivery of the powder. Hindle reported that the studies have found significant reductions in breathing effort and improvement in lung compliance at doses much lower than the currently available surfactant, Curosurf intratracheal suspension.
The topic of tailoring delivery of inhaled drugs to pediatric patients also came up in the Posters on the Podium session. Presenting her poster titled, “Design, Development, and Validation of a Novel Dry Powder Inhaler Adaptor for Increased Deposition of Anti-Inflammatory Agents in Pediatric Asthma,” Lily Zhu of Johns Hopkins University described a project to make Ellipta DPIs more usable for children through the use of a spacer that she designed to assist the user to reach the necessary inspiratory flow and eliminate the need to coordinate breath and actuation. The device uses a magnetic gate to delay release of the powder until a certain pressure drop is achieved, then the gate quickly opens, generating sufficient airflow.
Zhu reports that CFD modeling found little impaction occurring inside the adaptor and that she plans to do continue development with particle size distribution and deposition studies. Following the session, Mike Hindle presented Zhu with the 2025 VCU RDD Peter R. Byron Graduate Student Award.