Novel Dry-Powder Coatings for Low-G Inhalation Therapy

Currently, dry-powder inhalers (DPI) are used to deliver various drugs to the lungs for localized or systemic delivery. Although current inhaled formulations are adequate for pulmonary drug therapy under normal gravity, inhalation therapies on earth and potentially in space are plagued by low deposition characteristics into the peripheral lung spaces (10-20% pulmonary deposition) as well as variability in the absorption and residence time of the drug after inhalation. Because the particle size of pulmonary dry-powder formulations is limited to 1 to 5 microns, Nanosphere proposes to develop nanometer thin, muco-adhesive dry-powder coatings with increased pulmonary deposition and controlled-release characteristics for inhalation therapies in space. By controlling the surface characteristics of commercially available dry-powders, the proposed drug coating technique could be used to enhance the pulmonary deposition and residence time of inhaled drugs in low G as well as normal G environments, thus improving pulmonary drug therapies on earth as well as in space.