RDD Europe 2019 will take place May 7-10 at the Estoril Congress Center outside of Lisbon. Organizers expect approximately 500 inhaled and nasal drug specialists from industry, academia, and regulatory agencies to attend this year’s meeting.
Richard Dalby of RDD Online, which co-organizes the meeting with Aptar Pharma, notes that one of the current hot topics of discussion in the pharmaceutical industry poses a particular challenge: “Brexit’s sort of interesting for us to schedule about because by the time the meeting happens, something will have happened, but nobody seems to know what,” he notes. The UK is scheduled to leave the EU on March 29, just over five weeks prior to the meeting.
No matter what happens with Brexit, Dalby doesn’t expect any major logistical problems since the RDD Europe table exhibition format means that exhibitors from the UK don’t need to worry too much about shipping displays and equipment; if there are problems with customs, they can hand carry items, he suggests. Though he had worried at one point about Brexit’s effect on attendance, he says, he stopped worrying once it became clear that the meeting will have more exhibitors and posters than in recent years.
The bigger problem, Dalby explains, is putting together the conference proceedings for a meeting that will include a session called “Take a Deep Breath: Brexit and Sustainability.” “We always pride ourselves on providing up-to-the-minute information,” he says, “and it’s a challenge in terms of publishing a paper in advance that is not obsolete by the time the meeting comes.”
The scientific program also includes sessions titled:
- New Approaches to Treating Old Diseases
- Pipes, Particles and Predictions: New Insights into Deposition
- Re-inventing Inhalers for the Digital Age
- New Approaches to Inhalation Product Development and Production
In addition, a Posters on the Podium session will feature the authors of 5 posters selected to present their work by a committee.
Dalby cites the session on digital inhalers as being of particular interest to him personally: “Digital presents a way forward for problems that have been intractable for as long as I’ve been connected with pharmacy; things like devices that can coach patients, that kind of stuff can become a reality, and the impact of that as we go forward could be tremendous. It might also open the door to other drugs that require more precise dosing. The legal issues such as IP, confidentiality, etc. are also very interesting.”
He also expects the session on inhalation product development and production, which focuses mostly on dry powder inhalers, to draw a good bit of attention in light of the ongoing interest in developing generic versions of Advair and the recent approval of Mylan’s Wixela Inhub.
