Another delegate, Loy Britto, a former “Global MDI Product Steward” and Director of Inhaled Product Development at GSK, expressed doubts that the industry is actually doing any significant work to transition. Saying, “I would like to be optimistic, but I find it very difficult,” he observed that many companies seemed to be moving away from MDIs instead of reformulating with the new propellants. “If I was a patient,” he said, “it would scare the heck out of me.”
The atmosphere was more optimistic in the exhibition hall, where HFO1234ze(e) maker Honeywell and HFA 152a maker Orbia (Koura) were fielding questions about their products. Bespak, which announced an extension of its partnership with CRO OzUK on LGWP propellant development projects at the start of the meeting, promoted transition services. Other exhibitors discussing the transition included Kindeva Drug Delivery, which announced plans for an additional LGWP propellant filling line earlier in the year, and MDI component makers RxPack.
Nasal delivery
The “Advances in Nasal Drug Delivery” session began with a talk by Julie Suman of Aptar Pharma who specifically noted the opportunity for the delivery of biologics to the nose. Suman discussed the significant growth in systemic and targeted delivery of intranasal drugs and reviewed the various regions in and pathways from the nose to target. Among the pathways she highlighted was the lymphatic system, which is the targeted by Tiziana Life Science’s foralumab nasal spray for the treatment of multiple sclerosis.
Suman also talked about increasing acceptance of nasal vaccination and cited the recent FDA approval of FluMist intranasal flu vaccine for self administration as an example of the ease of use of nasal products.
The next speaker, Hui Wang of the University of Alberta, then described development of a platform for creation of spray dried dry powder intranasal vaccines stabilized with trehalose. A number of speakers discussed methods for assessment of nasal sprays in development, including Phil Kuehl of Lovelace Biomedical, who discussed the pros and cons of various non-clinical models for nasal drug development and urged delegates not to allow the unavailability of a perfect model to stop development.
