NEWS & EVENTS

   Delivering Drugs by Inhalation

Inhaled Drugs Growing Beyond Asthma & COPD

Greystone Associates Analyzes Evolving Device Technologies and Emerging Therapeutic Options

(Amherst, NH) – In their search for methods to improve the way patients self-administer medications for chronic and refractory conditions, drug developers and healthcare sector stakeholder are increasingly turning to inhalation as a way to control costs and improve patient outcomes through increased compliance. By formulating drugs for delivery via the lung, developers avoid a host of issues associated with competing delivery methods. Device enhancements that make inhalation more intuitive while reducing patient-to-patient variability are adding to the appeal of pulmonary delivery at a time when a growing segment of the population in developed countries are reaching or approaching advanced age.

Advances in particle technology and the art of particle and aerosol flow dynamics are enabling an expanding number of drug APIs as potential candidates for inhaled drug delivery via dry powder inhalers, metered dose inhalers and new-generation nebulizers. Interest in dry powder inhalation is further benefiting from its ability to create stable dry particle forms of protein and peptide drugs that would otherwise require continuous refrigeration - the so-called ‘cold chain.’

Inhaled drug formulations are currently working their way through the clinical development process for more than a dozen new indications. The list includes several neurology conditions, metabolic disorders, inherited diseases, pain management, PAH, immunology and infectious diseases. Several of these inhaled drug candidates have the potential to impact the therapeutic markets they target, effectively changing the way important illnesses are treated.

Source: Greystone Associates