New research uses computational fluid dynamics to model how drugs are delivered to the human respiratory tract via an inhaler. The aim is to improve the effectiveness of dry powder inhalers to treat lung disease.
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Not too fast, not too slow
Patients using dry powder inhalers to deliver medicine to their lungs need to breathe in at a “goldilocks” rate that is not too fast or too slow, and the drug particles need to be very fine – at around one micron – to be most effective, new research shows.
A dry powder inhaler (DPI) is a handheld device where you simply breathe in through the inhaler to deliver medicine directly to your lungs, unlike a ‘metered dose inhaler’ or ‘puffer’, which delivers aerosolised medicine from a pressurised canister.
“Inhalers were developed in the 1960’s to deliver medicine directly to the airways of people with lung diseases such as Asthma and COPD. They also hold potential to treat those with COVID-19,” said co-author Dr Suvash Saha from the University of Technology Sydney.
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