Advances in Pulmonary Drug Delivery

Abstract

Pulmonary drug delivery represents an attractive, non-invasive administration option. In addition to locally acting drugs, molecules that are intended to produce systemic effects can be delivered via the pulmonary route. Several factors need to be considered in the context of delivering drugs to or via the lungs—in addition to the drug itself, its formulation into an appropriate inhalable dosage form of sufficient stability is critical. It is also essential that this formulation is paired with a suitable inhaler device, which generates an aerosol of a particle/droplet size that ensures deposition in the desired region of the respiratory tract. Lastly, the patient’s (patho-) physiology and inhalation manoeuvre are of importance. This Special Issue brings together recent advances in the areas of inhalation device testing, aerosol formulation development, use of in vitro and in silico models in pulmonary drug deposition and drug disposition studies, and pulmonary delivery of complex drugs, such as vaccines, antibiotics and peptides, to or via the lungs.

Pulmonary Targeting of Inhalable Moxifloxacin Microspheres for Effective Management of Tuberculosis

“…Recently, pulmonary delivery of drugs has arisen as a non-invasive and attractive approach for the treatment of several pathologies, especially those affecting lungs [ 49 , 50 ]. Nevertheless, various obstacles including pulmonary clearance mechanisms, metabolic degradation, rapid systemic absorption, and control over drug deposition site have been identified to hinder the development of successful pulmonary drug delivery [ 50 ].…”

Nebulized plasma‐activated water has an effective antimicrobial effect on medically relevant microbial species and maintains its physicochemical properties in tube lengths from 0.1 up to 1.0 m

“…It can be seen that the spectrum emitted from the discharge operating without water for air plasma contains several spectral bands of the second positive system (SPS) and first negative position (FNP) of the N 2 molecule, NO, and an OH signal that is coming from atmospheric air. [ 25 ] According to Kovacevic et al, [ 28 ] the spectra emitted from the discharge operating with air plasma in contact or without contact with water present the same emission spectrum.…”

Inhaled RNA Therapeutics for Obstructive Airway Diseases: Recent Advances and Future Prospects

“…Polymers can form polyplexes through spontaneous electrostatic interaction. The size of polyplexes is usually in the range of 50–200 nm, and it is affected by the molecular weight of polymers, the charge ratio, and the pH value and ionic strength of the medium [ 239 ]. A pulmonary siRNA delivery system based on transferrin-polyethyleneimine (Tf-PEI) was prepared to avoid potential systemic side effects and increase the selectivity for activated T cells for asthma therapy.…”

“…Dendrimer are usually criticized by relatively low transfection efficiency and non-negligible toxicity. In addition, complexes based on electrostatic interactions tend to disassemble or aggregate over time because of the possible interaction with the airway surface liquid, which are negatively charged [ 239 ]. Therefore, dendrimer generation, architecture, surface functionality, and the core play important roles in RNA delivery.…”