2012 AAPS annual meeting

The Monday afternoon poster session featured several dozen posters on the topic of nasal and pulmonary formulation, plus several OINDP posters in the regulatory section. Most of the other sessions featured smaller numbers of OINDP-related posters. The AAPS has posted abstracts for posters and papers on its site.

Only a few sessions at the meeting were of interest to OINDP specialists, especially two symposia devoted to analytical techniques. The first, a sunrise session on Wednesday morning titled “Defining Critical Quality Attributes for Combination Products” and the second, on Thursday morning, was titled “Correlating In Vitro and In Vivo Lung Deposition of Pulmonary Formulation: Pharmacokinetic and and Regulatory Perspective.”

Hugh Smythe of the University of Texas, Austin, also presented a paper in a mini-symposium titled, “Innovative Emerging Technologies in Alternative Dosage Form Designs: The Eye Nose the Skin” that took place at the same time as the symposium on IVIVC.

Few of the inhalation and nasal related businesses exhibiting at AAPS introduced any new products or services at the meeting. One exception was Hovione, which was showing its new Xcaps inhaler, which has not yet launched officially. The company announced in 2011 that it was filing a patent for Xcaps, which has only two components in addition to the dust cover.

Some inhalation researchers at the meeting took note of several benchtop micronizers with ultra-low capacities exhibited by several different companies. Dec was showing its MicroJet mill, which comes in a range of sizes with a capacity as low as 100 mg and which includes a cyclone for collection of the micronized powder and filtration. FPS was exhibiting its PilotMill-Zero, which it advertises as the world’s smallest fluid jet mill, with a capacity of 10 mg.

Contract manufacturer PharmaForm, which offers formulation and manufacturing services for nasal sprays and inhalation powders among other dosage forms, chose AAPS to announce its move to San Diego.

View more photos from the meeting.