A milestone event for a valued conference that never fails to provide great opportunities to learn and network.
In 1989, the year of the inaugural Drug Delivery to the Lungs (DDL), inhalation scientists were working hard to reformulate metered dose inhalers (MDIs) in response to the Montreal Protocol. Fast forward 35 years and MDI reformulation is a hot topic once again, this time with propellants of lower global warming potential (GWP) in place of HFAs (hydrofluoroalkanes).
Much has changed in the intervening decades in our understanding of inhaled products, and their testing, and every year DDL successfully brings us together to share the triumphs, failures, and knowledge. The first one-day meeting was for just 100 delegates. This year the three-day event drew in more than 1000 participants from every corner of the globe. We spent a packed conference:
Discussing how testing requirements are evolving.
Developing next generation low GWP MDIs is a labour-intensive effort, and automation was a key theme for those involved. Higher productivity testing has an important role to play in meeting the aggressive timescales for commercialisation of these products.
FDA product-specific guidances now specifically reference realistic aerodynamic particle size distribution rAPSD measurement which can reduce reliance on in vivo testing to establish bioequivalence. As a result, more and more people are looking to integrate more clinically relevant test set-ups in their workflows.
Gathering the wider Copley ‘family’ together.
Copley distributors from China and India were in attendance alongside us as DDL attracts an increasingly international audience year-on-year, and we were delighted to host a dinner for around 20 customers from Taiwan and China.
Exploring more anatomically realistic mouth-throat models.
Representation of the mouth, throat and nose in orally inhaled and nasal drug product (OINDP) testing was a notable element of many presentations. Better representation, relative to the standard pharmacopeial induction port is a requirement for rAPSD and more generally, maximises the value of in vitro methods. This was a key topic in the nasal sessions with multiple researchers exploring how best to balance realism, reproducibility and ease-of-use.
Work from Kings College highlighting the value of coating nasal models to simulate mucus and improve deposition studies was very interesting. Using a coated Alberta Idealised Nasal Inlet (AINI), researchers were able to study deposition in specific areas of the nose very representatively. The number and diversity of studies featuring the AINI was great to see. From TB vaccine development to assessments of the impact of nasal powder filling processes it is proving a useful tool to the sector.
Enjoying excellent ice-cream, super-healthy smoothies and great face-to-face discussions.
From catching up with long-standing collaborators and established customers to touching base with new researchers. From working on plans for the 2025 European Pharmaceutical Aerosol Group (EPAG – Impactor group) programme to sharing insights around the many inspiring posters. It’s always easy to get involved in fruitful and engrossing discussions at DDL.
Learning about advances in biologics and patient compliance.
Those working on biologics are laying foundational knowledge of how to shape inhaled drug delivery to meet the needs of this specific class of drugs. Delivery efficiency is improving but inherent molecular instability is a significant hurdle to ensure active potency is maintained at the sight of action. Injected biologics such as omalizumab and mepolizumab are already helping those with severe asthma, highlighting the potential for what will hopefully soon be a new class of inhaled therapeutic.
The patient compliance story on the other hand is often about using the drugs we already have more effectively. There was plenty of novel and engaging tech on display to indicate how we might progress here, from monitoring inhalation sound signatures to smart nebulisation in a connected ecosystem.
Appreciating some great product feedback.
DDL is a wonderful environment for hearing the voices of our customers; even the best brochure and website are no substitute for handling the apparatus in person. We were pleased to hear that the slick, eye-catching design of our stand reflected the design experience of those using Copley equipment day-after-day! For us, it is fascinating to hear about the challenges our customers are tackling so thank you to everyone who stopped by. By sharing your goals and requirements you make it easier for us to develop the products needed to push OINDP testing forward.
Presenting posters.
Our topic this year was how differences in volume and flow resistance between alternative impactors (full resolution and abbreviated) can affect dry powder inhaler (DPI) testing. If you’re working with DPIs then this is an important issue to be aware of.
When a patient uses a DPI they are typically instructed to inhale quickly and forcefully. This action draws air through the device at a rate which rises to a peak flow over a given time, the flow rate rise time. The resistance of the inhaler shapes the flow rate rise time, but so too can components of a test set-up, notably impactors. Our poster explains how to manage this topic to safeguard the consistency of DPI test data.
Alongside our own poster, we were delighted to collaborate on two others, one from the International Pharmaceutical Aerosol Consortium on Regulation & Science on discrepancies between USP <601> and <1604> and the other from Microsol on coupling NGI data to an in silico model of pulmonary deposition.
Winning the PPD/Thermo Fisher “Guess the Impactor and Stage” quiz. What can we say, we got lucky with the topic!
So, all-in-all, an impressive milestone for the DDL conference, and a triumph for the organising team. Thank you to everyone who contributed to make this year’s conference such a great end to the year.
