Presentations
For the first time in several years, DDL started first thing on Wednesday morning instead of offering a satellite meeting from another organization; however the annual DDL Lecture was still scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, and the conference opened instead with a session on “Devices and Technology.”
The first session was kicked off by Jan de Backer, CEO of image analysis company Fluidda, who presented a talk titled, “Understanding the Interaction between Inhaled and Systemic Drugs using FRI: the Roflumilast Case,” describing the use of functional respiratory imaging (FRI) to determine that roflumilast improves ventilation in some lobes of the lungs of responders, which allows for improved deposition of inhaled therapies.
One theme that emerged in both the morning session on devices and the afternoon session on “Regulatory & Emerging Markets,” encompassed the needs of patients and other stakeholders. Mark Sanders of Clement Clarke International spoke about “Increasing Participation in and Improving Outcomes from Inhaler Training” while Andreas Meliniotis of Vectura Delivery Devices asked “Do Fewer Dose Preparation Steps Improve the Usability of Multi-Dose DPIs?” Former conference chair Georgina Fradley of Exco in Touch discussed the use of mobile device technology in respiratory medicine, and 3M Drug Delivery Device‘s Richard Jenkins addressed the needs of not only patients but also practitioners and payers.
In his DDL Lecture, titled, “Inhaled Drug Formulation – The Past, Present and Future of Powders for Inhalation,” Peter Stewart of Monash University addressed some of the same concerns, citing increasing risk aversion as a major factor in inhaled drug development over the past 25 years and imagining devices in the future that might integrate smart phone technology with sensors and delivery technology to treat diseases such as diabetes via the inhalation route. In order to deliver dry powder medications effectively, he postulated, the industry will turn to particle engineering and leave behind its reliance on micronized drug/carrier formulations.
On the second day of DDL 25, the morning session featured talks on emerging test methods for inhaled drug development, including dissolution testing, laser diffraction, and the use of respiratory cell lines. Two of the talks addressed the use of Livermore Instruments’ SPAMS (single particle aerosol mass spectrometer) technology for the measurement of aerodynamic particle size distribution (APSD). Consultant Jolyon Mitchell discussed the use of several time of flight methods, including SPAMS, while Bradley Morrical of Novartis described APSD testing of dry powder formulations containing indacaterol maleate using SPAMS.
The morning session concluded with a talk by former rugby star John Hall and his friend Jeff Thomas who participated in the 3000-mile 2014 Race Across America endurance bicycle race to raise money for Asthma UK in memory of Thomas’s daughter Antonia who died of an asthma attack in 2009 at age 10. The team, called the “London Pride Spinhalers,” completed the race and has raised almost £50,000. (to donate, click here)
