Puff Daddy

摘要

Alejandro zaffaroni, a devout nonsmoker and one of the world's most successful biotech entrepreneurs, has always been fascinated with the cigarette. Not by its romance or dangers, but by its efficiency. "It is an amazing delivery system; one puff and the nicotine goes to the brain in 15 seconds," says Zaffaroni. "Why not do this for drugs?" It was a question he asked himself a few years ago, while reading about nicotine addiction. This summer he will move one step closer to an answer. Alexza Molecular Delivery Corp., the latest Zaffaroni startup (it's his fourteenth), will begin human trials of a migraine drug to be inhaled through a device that looks like a flat whistle. Add heat and- poof!- the drug vaporizes into an odorless microparticular mist that passes quickly through the lungs into the bloodstream in order to, it is hoped, deliver instant relief.