AEROPERF
Effect of particle microstructure on the efficacy of inhalation powders
Pulmonary administration of drugs has the huge advantage of requiring low quantities of drugs compared to other methods. They usually take the form of a dry powder and administered with an inhaler. The particles in the powder should be small enough to reach deep into the lungs, to the bronchioles and alveoli (less than 5 µm), but large enough to settle down and not stay suspended in the air just to be breathed back out (more than 0.5 µm).
Current commercially available powders have a low deposition rate deep in the lungs. This is usually approximated by the fraction of particles with a diameter below 5 µm (or Fine Particle Fraction, FPF), and are between 8 and 30%. This project aims to increase this value, by optimising the production process and precisely identifying the factors governing the deposition rate.
There is a complex interdependency between this rate and the shape of the particles, their aerodynamic characteristic, surface roughness, porosity, composition (the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients, API, and their associated excipients), their susceptibility to electrostatic charges and their ease for unclumping and aerosolising (the ability to disperse in the air).
 ProCepT spray dryer used in this project |
The role of the PEPs laboratory is the collection of the caracteristics of the powders linked to their geometry, through the analysis of images from Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and to their aerodynamics, through Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Optimising the production process is not straightforward either. The method used here is spray drying, in which a solution is sprayed in a flow of hot air to quickly dry out into small particles. Many parameters can be finetuned to obtain the desired type of powder: solution flow speed, temperature, spray shape, concentration, air pressure, flow speed, humidity, etc. |
Two APIs, for asthma, are studied: budesonide and formoterol. Several excipients can be associated with each, and since optimising the drying parameters depend on composition, this project will search for the composition that produces the best possible powder, in terms of FPF.
Update (June 2022)
The project is beginning to get noticed, namely in the Belgian media like RTBF.
Partners
- Brigitte Evrard (promoter), and Anna Lechanteur (scientific coordinator), from the Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Technology and Biopharmacy (LTPB), of the department of Pharmacy, and part of the Center for Interdisciplinary research on Medicines (CIRM).
- Nicolas Vandewalle and Geoffroy Lumay, from the Group for Research and Applications in Statistical Physics (GRASP) of the department of Physics.
- Aquilon Pharma, belgian pharmaceutical start-up and spin-off of the university.
Financing
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The Public Service of Wallonie – Economy, Employment, Research (SPW – EER), through their programme Win²Wal, convention n° 1018103. |
Contacts
