A startup designing and licensing inhaler technology has announced Quattrii – the first ever dry powder inhaler (DPI) engine capable of delivering large volumes of biologic and mRNA molecules in a single inhalation.
Cambridge Healthcare Innovations (CHI) has designed Quattrii in an attempt to transform the delivery of drugs for conditions that affect the lungs and airways and the engine will be available for pharmaceutical companies to start using in phase 1 clinical trials towards the end of this year.
It will tackle lung cancer therapies as well as systemic conditions where delivery to the lung is more advantageous, like pain management or Parkinson’s.
Quattrii delivers at least 70% of the drug to the lung with each inhalation, while existing inhalers typically only deliver between 10% and 50% of the drug directly to the lung.
The benefit of this inhalation technology is the reduced amount the patient must receive to get the required therapeutic effect and the avoidance of typical side effects, such as hair loss and nausea.
Patients can also receive their dose within a few seconds, rather than over several hours.
“There is considerable worldwide research effort going into novel inhalable biologics and other large molecules.” said Dr Jenny Lam, associate professor of pharmaceutics at University College London
“However, existing inhaler technology is just not designed to meet the challenges of delivering these potential blockbuster drugs to patients.
“CHI’s Quattrii DPI is truly unique and offers huge potential for those developing a wide range of drugs that can save the lives of millions of people.”
David Harris, CEO and founder of CHI, added: “Respirable drugs offer so much potential, but for too long the lack of innovation in inhaler technology has been a hugely limiting factor.
“They are either not capable of offering sufficient moisture protection, or of delivering the amount of drug a patient needs in one go, regardless of the vast range of lung and inhalation capacities.
“There is a better way – and by creating an inhaler from the ground up, that is designed to make the best use of the patient’s inhalation energy, we have been able to achieve something that is easier to use and provides much greater efficiency.”