Research Supervisor Connect
This project aims to develop novel technologies to prepare nano-composite particles comprising two or more active ingredients for inhalation drug delivery.
PHD
Pharmaceutical inhalation aerosols offer the distinct advantage of rapid delivery of drugs to the site of action. The traditional administration of bronchodilators for asthma treatment is a typical example. Since dry powder inhalation (DPI) products have better formulation stability and improved patient compliance, significant efforts have been devoted to develop innovative technologies to generate dry powder aerosols. More recently, combination inhalation therapy has shown its potential to improve convenience to the patient along with synergistic drug actions, leading to better treatment adherence and clinical outcomes. There are several technologies available to prepare combination DPI formulations, including blending of the drugs with lactose carrier particles, co-precipitation or co-spray drying a solution containing two drugs. However, these processes produce either powders of variable drug contents or result in amorphous powders which are cohesive and physically unstable with poor aerosol performance. All these limitations have reflected the need to develop alternative particle production processes for the pharmaceutical industry.
This project will explore the feasibility of forming composite particles by spray drying or spray freeze drying nano-suspensions of at least two drugs, with the suspended nanoparticles prepared by precipitation. In particular, we will investigate into the effects of process conditions and the particle parameters on the fabrication of nano-composite drug particles. It is believed that the developed technology will provide a fundamental change in the preparation of combination drug formulation due to its versatility in functionalizing the drug particles.
The opportunity ID for this research opportunity is 1779