The Co-Suspension Technology utilizes engineered porous micro-particles, to which drug crystals adhere. UAlberta mechanical engineering professor Reinhard Vehring was the lead inventor of the technology, working with colleagues at Perl Therapeutics.
(Edmonton) Mechanical Engineering Professor, Reinhard Vehring, and his collaborators at Pearl Therapeutics, a member company of AstraZeneca, have reason to celebrate this week.
AstraZeneca announced on Monday April 25, 2016, that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Bevespi Aerosphere containing Pearl Therapeutics' patented Co-Suspension Technology for metered dose inhalers, of which Vehring was the lead inventor.
The Co-Suspension Technology uses engineered porous micro-particles, which drug crystals adhere to. The two components are then suspended together, or co-suspended, in the propellant of a metered dose inhaler.This new technology has numerous advantages to previous suspension technologies for aerosol drug delivery.
First, it allows for the simultaneous delivery of multiple drugs via a single delivery system.
Because drug crystals adhere to the outside of porous particles, different drugs can adhere to different sites and avoid interacting.
The Co-Suspension Technology also allows for more homogenous, consistent delivery of drugs to the lungs.Metered dose inhalers use a propellant to disperse the drugs in the airways. The drugs therefore need to be evenly suspended throughout the propellant.
"Previous suspension technologies allowed the drugs to settle out of the propellant," Vehring says. "This is why people are instructed to shake their inhalers. But that's obviously not a perfect solution."
The porous particles in the Co-Suspension Technology, on the other hand, "like the propellant," Vehring says, and stay suspended and evenly distributed in the inhaler.
The porous micro-particles are made of phospholipids already present in our lungs and are non-toxic.
"Once the micro-particles reach the lungs, they simply collapse and the drug crystals are deposited in the airway," Vehring explains.
The U.S. FDA has approved use of Bevespi Aerosphere inhalation aerosol for the long-term maintenance treatment of airflow obstruction in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease including chronic bronchitis and/or emphysema. The product delivers glycopyrrolate and formoterol fumarate, two bronchial dilators, which provide relief for COPD patients.
"In the future," says Vehring, "a steroid could be added to the current drug combination for patients who require an anti-inflammatory as well as the bronchial dilators."
People suffering from COPD will breathe easier with the Co-Suspension Technology and Reinhard Vehring is happy to have helped. "I was just a small part," he says. "It was a terrific team effort."
Watch a video demonstrating the Co-Suspension Technology, check out infographics and read more here.