Many of the 300 million people worldwide that suffer from asthma and many of the 210 million people worldwide that are affected by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), do not have the strength to inhale medicines from traditional dry powder inhalers. Further, metered-dose inhalers require hand-breathing coordination (which often leads to less effective deposition of medication) while nebulizers require relatively long treatment times and their setup is cumbersome. Thus, it should not be surprising that as many as 80% of patients do not use their inhalers effectively.
Inspiro Medical has developed a novel dry powder drug delivery solution for pulmonary indications. Inspiro’s Inspiromatic can be programmed to achieve maximum effectiveness by delivering the prescribed amount of drugs to a targeted spot on the lungs. This is accomplished by a flow sensor embedded into the hand-held Inspiromatic taking into account the patient’s inhalation flow rates and breathing patterns as well as an active particle’s de-agglomeration mechanism.
During ill patient simulations, Inspiro delivered twice the amount of drugs compared with competing inhalers. With Inspiro Medical, even children, the elderly and the seriously ill can benefit by enhanced dry powder drug delivery without forceful inhalation.
The Inspiromatic is a sleek hand-held device that is cost effective in the sense that the drug formulation does not remain in the loading chamber. Also, a built-in data logger indicates whether or not a proper inhalation technique has been adhered to, which is crucial in ensuring that the appropriate amount of drugs are released. Finally, direct communications between the Inspiromatic and the physician is facilitated by USB and wireless connectivity.