In the exhibition, several companies showed off device prototypes, including Noveayr’s breath-actuated device that works something like a removable holding chamber for an MDI, where the patient would first charge the device with a single dose from a regular MDI canister through an adapter and would then remove the device from the canister and inhale the dose. Although the trend toward connected devices was much less prominent at DDL 2022 than in past years, design company 3D Engineering Design was promoting a connected testing and inhaled delivery system called “Inbisense,” which it said was “The world’s first closed loop respiratory treatment system.”
DDL 2022 looked to the future of OINDP development
Sustainability
Sustainability and the transition to lower-GWP MDI propellants, including HFA-152a and HFO 1234ze, has been widely discussed at inhaled and nasal drug delivery meetings for several years, and those issues will undoubtedly continue as a focus years from now. Zephex 152a (HFA 152a) maker Koura and Solstice Air (HFO1234ze) maker Honeywell were both Platinum sponsors of the meeting and answered questions about their products in the exhibition.
The sustainability trend extended beyond discussion of the new propellants in the exhibition. For example, DPI developer Pharmadevices was promoting its Simplyhaler as “smarter, greener” and “100% recyclable,” while MDI canister maker Anomatic promoted its cans as “A sustainable and innovative solution for your inhaler.”
The new propellants, however, were still a major focus of sustainability talks at DDL 2022, and with his opening talk in the session on “Planetary Health,” John Pritchard of Inspiring Strategies made a forceful argument that the future may arrive sooner than the industry is expecting and that MDI makers need to make a move to new propellants now before it is too late.
After pointing out that EU environmental regulators are proposing an acceleration of the phase down of HFCs and that proposed legislation in California could result in a ban on HFA inhalers by the end of the decade, Pritchard listed other factors that could threaten the availability of the current medical grade propellants. And part of the problem, he said, is that health regulators do not seem to be talking to environmental regulators regarding the timing of the transition.
Pritchard warned that the phase down of industrial HFA products will lead to major increases in the cost of medical grade HFA 134a and 227, if sufficient product is even available. “It may disappear far quicker than anyone can believe,” he said. In the west, he said, “2025 may be the tipping point,” possibly resulting in a 3-fold rise in the cost to manufacture a 134a MDI and a 5-fold rise in the cost of a 227 inhaler. When asked whether the industry can transition in time, Pritchard responded, “I believe there is an imperative to act and act now. Time is running out.” In fact, he acknowledged, it may already be too late.
