710426The development of the world’s first lung biosimulator device to investigate orally inhaled products (OIPs) under deep lung conditions – A proof of concept project.ClosedGRD Proof of ConceptInnovate UKThe lungs are an excellent way of delivering pharmaceutical drugs into the body to treat various diseases. This is because they have a large surface area, are moist and have a good blood supply. Unlike tablet medicines, which are often slowly absorbed in the gut and then processed by the liver before they can have their effect, inhaled drugs are absorbed more rapidly and exert their effects quicker. Consequently, inhaled drugs are often in smaller doses than oral forms, give fewer side-effects and likely to have a quicker onset of action, which can lead to better control of disease symptoms and improved patient outcomes. When pharmaceutical companies are developing inhaled drugs, for example for asthma, they are mainly concerned with getting small-sized drug particles to reach the deepest parts of the lung where it is assumed that the particles are absorbed into the body. However, little is known about the way the drug interacts with the lung fluids. This is important to know as the lung fluids are the initial point of contact for the drugs delivered by the inhaled route and the media in which the drug dissolves/is released. Clearly, it is crucial to understand the interaction between pharmaceutical drugs and the lung fluids so that drug release mechanisms can be understood. There is currently no technology available to simulate the environment of the deep lung so that these types of interactions can be researched. Pulmorphix is in the process of developing an innovative technology which replicates lung conditions. The objective of this research is to set up ways in which we can investigate how inhaled drugs interact with lung fluids in an environment which closely resembles that of the deep lung. This information is of value to scientists designing inhaled drugs as the information generated by this technology will help them develop improved drug formulations - which will ultimately improve patient quality of life (e.g. for individuals with asthma or diabetes).