Understanding the Inspiratory Manoeuvre and Why it’s Important to DPI Design

David Harris

Cambridge Healthcare Innovations

Introduction

The field of respiratory drug delivery involves complex science for which the fundamental principles are often not well understood.  Current inhalers generally have poor performance, typically delivering more drug to the mouth and throat of the patient rather than their lungs, the target site.

During this presentation we will cover the basics of fluid dynamics, which is key to successful inhaler design; how patients’ lungs function and provide the necessary energy for the aerosolisation of powdered drug formulation, and how this impacts device design and performance.

The aim is to cover basic fluid dynamics and how lungs function, as the understanding of both is absolutely fundamental to good inhaler design.  Every single Dry Powder Inhaler (DPI) in the world is powered by the energy available from the user’s inspiratory manoeuvre.