Earthquake-like wave delivers medicine mist to lungs

Earthquake-like wave delivers medicine mist to lungs Publishing
Chemical technology news from across RSC Publishing.
A portable, miniature system for delivering steroids into the lungs of asthma patients has beendeveloped by scientists in Australia. The system is cheaper and more efficient than conventionalnebulisers and could be used to administer vaccines, antibiotics and other drugs, they say.
The surface acoustic wave generates a fine mist from the droplet containing the The battery-powered device, developed by Leslie Yeo and colleagues at Monash University, Clayton,generates a surface acoustic wave (SAW), a 10-nanometre earthquake-like wave, which travelsacross the device's surface. When Yeo placed a liquid droplet containing salbutamol, an anti-asthmatic drug, on the surface, the wave blasted the droplet into a fine mist suitable for inhalationinto the lungs.
Conventional inhalers rely on a patient's ability to breathe in a drug-containing aerosol. With the newdevice, Yeo can alter the drug aerosol's production rate to account for variability in patients'breathing patterns and so deliver the maximum lung dose to the individual. This could be useful forinfants, young children or people who have severe cases of asthma, he says.
The device can easily fit in the palm of your hand and is "This is a most promising
reusable, explains Yeo - an insertable cartridge would provide aerosol generation
the drug and be replaced when empty. It delivers a lung dose technology that can soon be
(percentage of drug delivered to the lower lung region) of 70 to translated into
80 per cent, much higher than the 30 to 40 per cent doses commercialised devices for
obtained with conventional inhalers. This means less of the drug pulmonary drug delivery"
'This is a most promising aerosol generation technology that can of Notre Dame, US soon be translated into commercialised devices for pulmonarydrug delivery,' comments Hsueh-Chia Chang, an expert inmicrofluidics and medical diagnostics, at the University of Notre Dame, US.
'The delivery of asthmatic steroids is just the tip of the iceberg,' predicts Yeo. 'We hope to be able todeliver vaccines, antibiotics and other drugs in the future.' Enjoy this story? Spread the word using the 'tools' menu on the left or add a comment to theChemistry World blog. Aisha Qi, James R. Friend, Leslie Y. Yeo, David A. V. Morton, Michelle P. McIntosh and Leone http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/ChemTech/Volume/2009/07/drug_delivery_blast.asp Earthquake-like wave delivers medicine mist to lungs Aisha Qi, James R. Friend, Leslie Y. Yeo, David A. V. Morton, Michelle P. McIntosh and Leone
Spiccia, Lab Chip, 2009
DOI:
Chinese scientists have developed fluorescent drug delivery vehicles that can be used to monitordrug release A peptide found in tumour cells can trigger the release of drugs from a novel nanocarrier, claimSouth Korean scientists Patients with glaucoma and related eye diseases could soon be treated with a refillable drug deliverydevice - replacing the need for injections into the eyeball.
http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/ChemTech/Volume/2009/07/drug_delivery_blast.asp

Source: http://users.monash.edu.au/~lyeo/Dr_Leslie_Yeo/CV_files/SAWAtomization_ChemicalTechnology_15May2009.pdf