Promising new data on Ventaira's pulmonary drug delivery device

Columbus, Ohio-based Ventaira Pharmaceuticals, a company focused on developing drugs for inhalation, says its latest study has shown that its new inhalation system delivered medicated aerosol to the lung in higher proportions than ever reported for a hand-held device.

The company which has developed proprietary electrohydrodynamic (EHD) aerosolisation technology and formulation technologies to improve the profiles of new or existing drugs, has just completed a pharmacokinetics and scintigraphy study with fluticasone propionate, an inhaled asthma treatment, in combination with its new inhalation device.

The study results are to be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal later this year. Conducted by Pharmaceutical Profiles, the study compared the administration of Fluticasone by oral inhalation as a pMDI HFA suspension through an AeroChamber Plus spacer, with that through a device based on Ventaira's electrohydrodynamic (EHD) technology.

Leslie Williams, president and ceo of Ventaira, said: "These study results will be used to select the formulation and doses for our Phase II study that is slated to begin later this year".

Ventaira's device, Mystic, is designed to deliver inhaled medications to patients in an efficient and easy-to-use manner. Based on the liquid aerosol technology EHD, it is claimed to deliver respiratory and systemically active drugs to the lung more efficiently and effectively.

Ventaira (formerly BattellePharma) is currently developing its own proprietary drug for the treatment of asthma and also hopes to create opportunities for existing drugs that may be more easily delivered via inhalation.