Advancement of a high-dose infant air-jet dry powder inhaler (DPI) with passive cyclic loading: Performance tuning for different formulations

There is a current medical need for a dry powder aerosol delivery device that can be used to efficiently and consistently administer high dose therapeutics, such as inhaled antibiotics, surfactants and antivirals, to the lungs of infants. This study considered an infant air-jet dry powder inhaler (DPI) that could be actuated multiple times with minimal user interaction (i.e., a passive cyclic loading strategy) and focused on the development of a metering system that could be tuned for individual powder formulations to maintain high efficiency lung delivery. The metering system consisted of a powder delivery tube (PDT) connecting a powder reservoir with an aerosolization chamber and a powder supporting shelf that held a defined formulation volume. Results indicated that the metering system could administer a consistent dose per actuation after reaching a steady state condition. Modifications of the PDT diameter and shelf volume provided a controllable approach that could be tuned to maximize lung delivery efficiency for three different formulations. Using optimized metering system conditions for each formulation, the infant air-jet DPI was found to provide efficient and consistent lung delivery of aerosols (similar to 45% of loaded dose) based on in vitro testing with a preterm nose-throat model and limited dose/actuation to <5 mg.

Automated summary

This study focused on the development of an infant air-jet dry powder inhaler (DPI) that could be actuated multiple times with minimal user interaction. The metering system, consisting of a powder delivery tube (PDT) and a powder supporting shelf, could be tuned for individual powder formulations to maintain high efficiency lung delivery. The optimized infant air-jet DPI provided efficient and consistent lung delivery of aerosols based on in vitro testing.