Digital RDD 2020 got underway on April 26 with the announcement of the winner of the Charles G. Thiel Award for Outstanding Research and Discovery in Respiratory Drug Delivery. In a recorded presentation accessible to registered delegates, committee member Peter Byron announced that this year’s award goes to Jeffry Weers, Chief Technology Officer of Respira Therapeutics.
The Charles G. Thiel Award, presented by the VCU School of Pharmacy, was created to honor one of the inventors of the MDI on its 50th anniversary and is endowed by 3M DDDS “to continue to recognize excellence in our field.”
In the announcement, Byron notes that Weers has been called the “Father of Particle Engineering,” having invented the PulmoSphere spray dried low density porous particle technology while at Alliance Pharmaceutical early in his career. Weers holds 65 patents, and technology he invented has been licensed to more than 20 pharmaceutical companies, with PulmoSpheres forming the basis of products such as TOBI Podhaler and Bevespi Aerosphere.
In 1999, Inhale Therapeutics (Nektar) acquired the PulmoSphere technology, and Weers moved to Inhale where he led R&D during development of Exubera inhaled insulin. He again followed the technology when Nektar’s drug delivery technology was acquired by Novartis in 2008, and he served as Novartis Chief Scientific Officer for Respiratory until 2017 when he joined Respira Therapeutics. Respira is currently developing DPIs for the treatment of pulmonary hypertension.
Byron commented, “Our committee was impressed not only by the scope of Jeff’s work but also by his continued contributions to the literature. Jeff is a committed scientist and a well-cited author who has pushed the frontiers of aerosol drug delivery to the general good of our specialty all while championing the development of innovative new products.”
Registration for Digital RDD 2020 is open until June 30, 2020.
