The present invention relates to inhaler devices (701), and in particular to devices provided with medicament carriers containing individual pockets or blisters of powdered medicament covered by a lidding sheet such as a lidding foil. A common actuator (710) is provided for controlling movement of an indexing system (712,714) for advancing/indexing a dose and an opening system (790,791) for opening a dose such that progression of the opening system (790,791) is disproportional to progression of the indexing system (712,714) during movement of the common actuator (710).

A device for dispensing individual doses of powder from respective pockets of a disc-shaped carrier by outwardly rupturing a lidding foil by means of pressure on an opposite side surface, the device providing individual respective deaggregation flow paths for each pocket, split airstreams allowing improved entrainment of powder, a cam mechanism for outwardly rupturing the pockets, an indexing mechanism linked to the cam mechanism and a dose counter.

The present invention provides for the integration of drug dispersion methods into a drug or medicine delivery system. The drug dispersion methods used include shear (e.g., air across a drug, with or without a gas assist), capillary flow or a venturi effect, mechanical means such as spinning, vibration, or impaction, and turbulence (e.g., using mesh screens, or restrictions in the air path). These methods of drug dispersion allow for all of the drug in the system to be released, allowing control of the dosage size. These methods also provide for drug metering, fluidization, entrainment, deaggragation and deagglomeration. The present invention also provides for the integration of a drug sealing system into the device. The drug sealing system provides a way of blocking the migration of drug from one area of the package to another. The drug seal system can also provide a method of tightly containing the drug until the package is opened, of directing airflow through the package and of managing and containing the drug during the package/device manufacturing process.

An inhaler is provided, comprising a housing which contains a blister strip having a plurality of blisters which contain powdered medicament for inhalation; a mouthpiece mounted on the housing through which the medicament is inhaled by a user; an actuator; a blister piercing member; an indexing wheel for sequentially moving each blister into alignment with the blister piercing member when the user operates the actuator; an actuator gear, mounted for rotation about a first axis, which is driven by the actuator and which comprises an actuator gear element; and a drive gear for driving the indexing wheel, mounted for rotation about a second axis, which engages with the actuator gear element. The inhaler is characterized in that the gear ratio between the actuator gear element and the drive gear varies as they rotate during operation of the actuator.

A breath-powered, dry powder inhaler, a cartridge, and a pulmonary drug delivery system are provided. The dry powder inhaler can be provided with or without a unit dose cartridge for using with the inhaler. The inhaler and/or cartridge can be provided with a drug delivery formulation comprising, for example, a diketopiperazine and an active ingredient, including, peptides and proteins such as insulin, oxyntomodulin and glucagon-like peptide.

According to some embodiments there is provided a device configured for releasing at least one substance from source material, comprising: a housing; a plurality of source material sections positioned at fixed locations with respect to the housing; a plurality of airflow paths, each airflow path associated with at least one source material section; each airflow path associated with at least one blocking element which prevents flow of air through the path; and an actuator operably coupled to the blocking element, the actuator configured for unblocking the airflow path of at least one selected source material section to allow flow of air to and through source material within the selected section.

An electronic system (1) comprises an electronic device (2) for gathering data from an inhaler (3) which is configured to dispense doses of a pharmaceutical formulation stored in a medicament reservoir. The system (1) further comprises an evaluation unit (9) being configured to receive and evaluate the gathered data in order to determine adherence to prescription data and/or to determine the number of doses having been dispensed or remaining in the inhaler (3) and a display (8) for visualizing the evaluated data. The electronic device (2) comprises a wireless interface (4) for receiving wireless data from the inhaler (3) via a wireless connection an input interface (5) for receiving manual input data and an acoustic or visual interface (6, 7) for receiving acoustic or visual data of the inhaler (3). The evaluation unit (9) is configured to identify the gathered data as wireless, acoustic, visual or manual input data, identify the inhaler model from which the data was gathered across different manufactures, process and evaluate the gathered data and visualize the processed data on the display (8).

The present invention is based, in part, on the unexpected discovery that particles for pulmonary delivery of a therapeutic, prophylactic or diagnostic agent that comprise a phospholipid and a sufficient amount of leucine can produce sustained effect of the agent. Specifically, particles for pulmonary delivery of a therapeutic, prophylactic or diagnostic agent that contain a phospholipid or combination of phospholipids, wherein the phospholipid or combination of phospholipids is present in the particles in an amount of about 1 to 46 weight percent; and leucine, wherein leucine is present in the particles in an amount of at least 46 weight percent, can contribute to sustained effect of the agent. Particles that comprise at least 46 weight percent leucine but that do not contain phospholipids do not exhibit these same sustained effect properties.

There is provided an inhalation device for delivering a deliverable agent in the form of an aerosol or vapour to a user. The device comprises a solid, porous carrier material having a defined porosity, and a deliverable agent located within the pores of the carrier material. The device is operable to heat the carrier material and vaporise the deliverable agent. Deliverable agents that may be delivered to the user include active pharmaceutical ingredients. Suitable materials for the porous carrier material include chemically bonded ceramic materials and geopolymeric materials.

An example aerosol delivery device includes a mouthpiece having an airflow outlet, and an airflow passage extending between an airflow inlet and the airflow outlet. The example aerosol delivery device further includes a housing configured to receive a cartridge that includes an aerosolizable substance and a vapor element configured to heat the aerosolizable substance, and an internal power source configured to provide electrical power. The example aerosol delivery device further includes a controller coupled to the internal power source to receive a portion of the electrical power and configured to, when the cartridge is installed at the housing, cause the vapor element of the cartridge to heat the aerosolizable substance to release an aerosol into the airflow passage during an inhalation through the airflow outlet, and a connector configured to receive power from an external source to recharge the internal power source.