Multi-Purpose Soft Mist Inhaler Produces Different Size Medication Droplets

Pneuma Respiratory, a young company out of Boone, North Carolina, has announced that it developed a digital soft mist inhaler that can be set to deliver different size drug particles to the lungs, and that works with a variety of medications including large-molecule compounds. The company’s droplet ejector technology generates whichever size droplets are preferred and intelligently injects the soft mist into the air stream as the patient breathes in from the inhaler. Having different size droplets may significantly help improve a drug’s effectiveness, as the droplet’s size plays a role in determining which part of the respiratory tree it ends up in. There’s no propellant that is used by the inhaler, since it activates drug delivery only on inhalation and uses the naturally produced negative air pressure to propel the drug into the lungs.

Pneuma’s inhaler tracks its usage and can unload the data it collects to a smartphone via Bluetooth wireless. Parents and caretakers of patients, as well as scientists running studies, can easily keep track of compliance, helping to ensure the best outcomes.

With a global team of leading researchers, physicians, designers and engineers, Pneuma has created the world’s first fully integrated digital soft mist inhaler. Using exclusive digital droplet ejector technology, Pneuma’s integrated device has the potential to ultimately deliver a spectrum of novel therapies, including biologics, through the lungs.

Two clinical studies with COPD patients using small-molecule asthma and COPD medications validated the platform using bronchodilation as the outcome. Pre-clinical binding studies have further demonstrated the ability of the platform to deliver large, complex biologics that are pharmacologically intact.