Aerosol Drug Delivery

Creare develops novel aerosol devices for the delivery of vaccines, drugs, and other pharmaceutical products via the respiratory tract. The work includes nebulizers for mass vaccination campaigns as well as devices for individual or routine office use. Our nebulizer technology has been licensed by an aerosol therapeutics firm, AerovectRx Corporation. Much of this work has been funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Creare’s technology centers on a disposable drug cartridge (DDC, also known as a disposable aerosolizing element or DAE), a unique patented approach that contains all of the wetted components of the aerosol generator in a low-cost disposable cartridge. Creare has developed multiple prototype implementations of DDC-based devices for intranasal as well as deep respiratory delivery.  One version has received FDA 510(k) clearance as the Aerolife™ nebulizer for AerovectRx.

Creare has developed prototype intranasal nebulizers for administration of influenza vaccine. The use of live attenuated influenza vaccines delivered by aerosol offers many advantages in responding to routine influenza seasons and can play a crucial role in the control of pandemic influenza. Creare’s highly efficient designs enable reduced quantities of vaccine per dose, allowing limited supplies to be stretched to many more people.

For mass vaccination campaigns, Creare developed a high-workload nebulizer that features long battery life, efficient vaccine usage, and low-cost disposable patient interfaces. Mass vaccination programs are common in developing nations, but needle-free methods are needed to prevent the spread of blood-borne disease. With low-cost disposables and the ability to vaccinate hundreds of individuals in remote areas without electricity, our design is well suited to mass campaign use.

Creare is also developing a small DDC-based nebulizer for the administration of atropine for use in treating nerve agent exposures in the event of a military or terrorist attack with chemical weapons.

To support our nebulizer research, Creare has developed test methods and equipment for measurement of aerosol output, particle size (via laser diffraction), and regional deposition (using respiratory phantoms and fluorescent aerosols).