POWDER INHALER FEATURING DISC WITH DOSING HOLES

摘要

A dry powder inhaler for dispersion of tiny (10µg - 50mg), precise dosages of pure carrier-free, ultra-fine powdered medicament (<5 µm aerodynamic particle size) into a patient's lung. The powder is drawn from a blister cell in a disc and dispersed through an outlet tube assisted by two air streams. A first air stream passes through a blister cell from its upstream side to significantly fluidize the medicament in the dose to flow in the direction of the first airstream. A second airstream extracts the fluidized powder from downstream of the blister-cell for further deagglomeration and dispersion of the medicament powder by shearing force. The disc is a rotating multi-dose blister-type carrier which may hold up to 60 doses of pre-metered, pure, ultra-fine powdered medicament resulting in a higher drug-loading capability in small volumes, compared to most current dry powder inhalers which usually use some excipients. The inhaler efficiently disperses the aerosolized medicament in the airstream to the deep interior of the patient's lung. The fine particle fraction (< 4 7 µm) is reported to reach as high as 80% using this inhaler.