The ability to treat diabetes with an inhaler instead of a needle has come a step closer with the development of the world's first lung biosimulator.
The new biosimulator offers the pharmaceutical industry a reliable way of testing how drugs will behave when they are inhaled.
With the support of Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), Dr Mike Davies, a Senior Lecturer in Pharmacy Practice and Pharmaceutics, has been developing the technology and prototype device for the last six years. LJMU has now established a new spin out company called Pulmorphix to realise its full potential.
The technology mimics conditions in the deep lung, such as temperature, humidity, breathing, light and lung fluid composition, providing a reliable and reproducible method for analysing drug release from orally inhaled products (OIPs). It has the potential to change radically how pharmaceutical companies test and develop OIPs for the treatment of conditions such as asthma, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
We believe this is the first time that a university spin out company has offered an equity share via crowdfunding
Kish Mistry, Chief Executive of Pulmorphix, explained: 'An increasing number of therapy areas are using the pulmonary route to administer drug therapy, such as anxiety, Parkinson’s disease, pain management, migraine, cystic fibrosis, anticoagulation, osteoporosis, anaemia and diabetes.
'The problem is, little is currently known about the interaction of inhaled drug particles with the lung or pulmonary fluids, a process known as dissolution. Pulmorphix technology can bridge this knowledge gap within the pharmaceutical industry and that is why this new technology is such a game changer.'
OIPs have real advantages over other drugs; they bypass the liver, are often taken in lower doses and have fewer side effects for patients. There is also no need for painful injections or needles and because the drugs are in powder form, there is no need for cold storage. As such OIPs have the potential to revolutionise the way drugs and vaccines can be delivered to patients.
Davies, who is Scientific Director at Pulmorphix, added: 'The pharmaceutical industry needs an accurate replication of the in vivo pulmonary environment in order to develop new and better inhaled drugs. Pulmorphix has the solution.'
Pulmorphix has already secured funding of £82,000 from the Technology Strategy Board to develop the patent-pending technology further. It is now seeking a further £100,000 investment for a 20% equity stake in the company, which it hopes to raise in the next 60 days via CrowdCube, an FCA-regulated equity crowdsourcing platform.
'We believe this is the first time that a university spin out company has offered an equity share via crowdfunding,' said Mistry. 'This is a fantastic opportunity for both established and new investors to support an exciting new technology company which has the potential to transform how the pharmaceutical industry develops and tests inhaled drugs.'
Mistry estimates that the dissolution profiling market of OIPs could be worth around £1.5bn.
