Stakeholder driven device innovation in pulmonary and nasal drug delivery

摘要

Driven by the need for patient-friendliness and enhanced performance, pulmonary inhalation devices and nasal delivery devices are becoming increasingly complex. Designs typically evolve from known multi-dose device concepts, adding new components whenever additional functionality is needed. However, it is easy to confuse sophistication with increased complexity. Since we began developing our DirectHaler device (based on a research thesis by Prof. S?ren Pedersen: “Inhaler use in children with asthma”), major pharmaceutical companies have been investing millions of dollars into improving their inhaler designs. Yet, a decade on, a paper published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) suggested that there was still room for significant improvement even in devices developed and launched by top-tier companies. The paper, by Dr Paul Diggory, consultant at the Mayday Hospital, Croydon, UK, and colleagues, examined the use of GlaxoSmithKline’s Diskhaler by elderly people taking Relenza (zanamivir). Figure 1. It concluded: “Most elderly people cannot use the inhaler device used to deliver the influenza drug zanamivir. Treatment with this drug is unlikely to be effective in elderly people unless the delivery system is improved.” Problems were particularly associated with loading and priming the device, and that patients were often not aware when the inhaler was empty.