Dry Powder for Inhalation (DPI)

Pulmonary drug delivery by DPIs, because of its propellant free nature, high patient compliance, high dose carrying capacity, drug stability and patent protection, has recently become subject of active research to realize full potential of lungs for local and systemic treatment of diseases such as asthma and COPD. Dry powder inhalers (DPIs) are devices through which a dry powder formulation of an active drug is delivered for local or systemic effect via the pulmonary route. In last decade, performance of DPIs has improved significantly through the use of engineered drug particles and modified excipients systems4. The controlled release of drugs for pulmonary delivery is a research field which has been so far rather unexploited but is currently becoming increasingly attractive. The development of controlled release formulations for inhalable drugs has been widely investigated since several years. Current research approaches include the use of liposomes, micro- and nanosuspensions dry powder formulations