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HEIndividual fellowship2024–2026

SprayDelivery · Pulmonary drug delivery using low shear nebulization sprays

Horizon Europe — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2024-05-01 → 2026-08-31
EU contribution
€237,375
Participants
2
Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Results in brief

Pulmonary drug delivery using low shear nebulization sprays

Respiratory diseases are among the top causes of death worldwide. While many treatments exist, getting the right medicine deep into the lungs effectively remains a major challenge. One of the best ways to treat the lungs is by breathing in a fine mist (aerosols). However, the devices currently used to create these mists are often "too rough". They apply high shear stresses or heat that can break down and damage the medicine before it even reaches the patient. This is a huge problem for modern, delicate medicines like vaccines or lipid-protein drugs, delivered to our lungs. The overall objective in SprayDelivery project is to develop a new, "gentle" mist technology with a low shear and droplet size control. Think of it as a "soft touch" for medicine. The drug functionality is preserved during the mist generation. By optimizing this delivery strategy, the project enhances targeted deposition in the lungs and significantly reduce medication costs in clinical settings.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

Respiratory diseases are one of the leading causes of death worldwide. The recent global pandemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2) has made us realize that effective and widely acceptable therapies against such diseases are still lacking and urgently needed. Administering drugs through aerosolization directly to the lungs, i.e. pulmonary delivery, enables targeted therapeutic effects while minimizing side effects by reducing systemic drug exposure. However, generically aerosol delivery is not very efficient, with only 5-15% of the initial medication deposited in the lungs. This is primarily linked with a wide aerosol drop size distribution, leading to inefficient aerosol deposition in the upper rather than lower respiratory tract. In addition, degradation of the medication during nebulization is also a challenge. This project aims to bridge the gap between aerosol generation and the deposition and transport of medication into the respiratory tract. We first propose an innovative soft nebulization method that reduces aerosol droplet coalescence by charging aerosols through friction. We will then use this optimized nebulization method to investigate how medication aerosols impact on the mucus in the respiratory tract, and devise strategies to enhance targeted aerosol deposition. In addition, we will investigate the transport of drug formulations within the airways in relation to their different rheological properties related to typical various respiratory diseases. This project will establish transformable and applicable technologies for advancing aerosol drug delivery to the respiratory tract.

Original text from CORDIS.

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Data: CORDIS, © European Union