DDL21 is a premier conference dedicated to pulmonary drug delivery and respiratory medicine taking place each December in Edinburgh, Scotland. Central to Dr. Smyth’s presentation was a discussion of Respira Therapeutics unique and revolutionary approach to dry powder inhalers (DPI) with profound significance on pulmonary medicine. The anathema to conventional thinking in DPI formulations, Dr. Smyth’s discovery focuses on the physics and systematic evaluation of large “carriers” for lung delivery. The findings have given rise to Respira’s drug engine, an excipient-free passive DPI with unmatched performance outcomes and broad implications for the pharmaceutical industry. Respiratory diseases account for approximately 17% of deaths worldwide, and present a $24.5 B market opportunity for inhaled therapeutics. DPI inhaler sales through 2012 are predicted to have a compounded annual growth rate 12.3%. Currently, seven inhaler products rank in the top 100 prescription medications, with a market size of ~ $7.5 B. The inhaled therapeutics global market is big Pharma-dominant and heavily targeted to asthma (~300 MM patients) and COPD (~210 MM patients). Generally, currently marketed inhalers are passive DPI devices, deriving all the energy for aerosol and drug dispersion from the patient's inspiratory effort. This poses a significant clinical problem for patients whose underlying respiratory disease and compromised lung function restrict flow rates required for drug dispersion and therapeutic efficacy. Such inhalers are characterized by respirable fractions of <30%, i.e., ~ 2/3 of the drug does not reach the target organ and provides no clinical benefit. Dr. Smyth and Dr. Martin Donovan, co-inventor of the founding technology and Respira
Therapeutics Senior Scientist, have already demonstrated flow rate-independent behavior with emitted fractions in the range of 80%, a significant improvement over the current state-of-the-art. The ideal for a DPI remains one that can be used by all patient groups and one that combines flow rate-independence, clinical performance and simplicity and low cost design. No such devices have been developed to date, and Respira Therapeutics DPI products represent a first in class by virtue of superior performance and design characteristics. Said Bob Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT and a scientific advisor to Respira, “I have been favorably impressed by Respira’s DPI technology. This breakthrough approach has significant potential for the inhaled therapeutics’ industry and for patient treatment.”
Respira Therapeutics is an early-stage product development company focused on pulmonary delivery of therapeutics for respiratory diseases with unmet medical needs. The company realized seed capitalization from Cottonwood Technology Fund in October 2010 for scientific development and commercialization of its seminal intellectual property on passive DPI, consisting of a drug engine with a novel mechanism of action for lung delivery and therapy. Respira can be found online at www.respiratherapeutics.com. Cottonwood Technology Fund is a seed-stage technology commercialization fund with offices in Los Alamos and Santa Fe, New Mexico as well as El Paso, Texas. It marks the first time a venture capital fund has headquartered in El Paso, servicing the world’s largest border metroplex via development of new technologies from the area with formal funding to back it. CTF aims to cultivate the entrepreneurial community in the Southwest Region from Austin, Texas to Phoenix, Arizona.
More information can be found at www.CottonwoodTechnologyFund.com
