North Carolina-based Next Safety, a respirator technology and pulmonary medicine company, has touted that the system, which developed from the company's respirator platform, promised "to revolutionize pulmonary drug delivery" because droplets could be created individually rather than using a "bulk" or "brute force" method.
"The idea evolved somewhat during prototyping, and although compatible with the respirator system, it can be used in other ways much like an inhaler typically used for asthmatics," Next Safety technology and product development director Lyndell Duvall told US-PharmaTechnologist.com.
"The idea was that droplets of an aerosol, either liquid or powder, could be injected into the purified air that was created by our respirator and delivered to the [patient]."
While further studies were still to be conducted, early data indicated a potential for more than 50 per cent of the aerosolized dose reaching the alveoli, making the technology more efficient than other drug delivery systems, Duvall said.
"We are well aware of the challenge that this has presented for pulmonary medicine and have been reluctant to claim the breakthrough. However, as we have gathered more data, it seems increasingly evident that this is a significant advance."
The advantage of the system was that droplets could be created more consistently than other aerosolization methods and could then be manipulated after being produced, and the greater efficiency of the system meant drugs could be delivered at lower doses.
"Estimates of metered dose inhaler efficiencies vary but usually range in the 20 to 30 per cent range. Powdered inhalers such as the Advair disk report efficiencies up to 50 per cent or so. We believe our technology rivals these efficiencies, with the ability to get the drug into the bloodstream more quickly if required."
While the technology could be applied to upwards of 20,000 drugs in a variety of therapeutic areas, Next Safety was heralding the technology as a potential candidate for nicotine replacement therapy.
"Our technology will allow nicotine to be delivered to the alveoli in the same way that cigarettes deliver nicotine, but without the harmful ingredients of smoke. The fundamental flaw in most nicotine replacement therapies is that they do not accurately mimic the nicotine delivery in cigarettes and smokers do not find them an adequate alternative to cigarettes," Duvall said.
Clinical testing will begin soon with a focus on the antibiotic tobramycin, the anti-nausea drug phenergen, bronchodilator albuterol, and the narcotic morphine.
Should these drugs prove successful, they would enhance the options for at-home treatments because of the convenience of the drug delivery system.
Next Safety is currently in discussions with several interested pharmaceutical companies, a number of which already offer nicotine replacement therapies.
According to reports, a growing demand for easier ways to administer drugs coupled with technological advances, such as Next Safety's, the pulmonary drug delivery market worldwide is expected to reach $34.5 billion by 2010, showing compound annual growth of 7.8 per cent since 2006.
Already pharmaceutical companies Gilead, Vectura and Pfizer are working on inhalable formulations of various drugs, working on the premise of a more efficient drug delivery system.
Next Safety has developed some of the most advanced respirator technology. The bPure8000 line of respirators provide higher protection against airborne viruses and fine particulate air pollution than any other respirator globally, according to the company.
