Seminar on inhalation insights held in Mumbai

Pharma excipients distributor in India, Signet has collaborated with 25 leading excipient manufacturers from the USA, Europe and Japan offering over 450 various excipients for almost every application and dosage form.

Signet, along with its principal partner Meggle, the global leader in lactose, co-hosted a seminar recently on inhalation insights in collaboration with Constantia Flexibles, Copley Scientific, Harro Hofliger and Merxin in Mumbai. It witnessed about 90 participants from different pharma companies who are actively working on inhalation products. The seminar focused on DPI and nasal formulation technologies along with the complete development cycle from powder characterisation, formulation, filling techniques, analysis, device design and packaging.

Speaking during the discussion, Dr Mirjam Kobler, Head–R&D Excipients and Technology, Meggle talked on lactose in DPI formulations and its impact on performance of final drug product. Different aspects of formulation strategies were also discussed. Meggle is the global leader in lactose production for DPIs, injectables and oral dosage forms, including co-processed technologies and tailor-made services.

Anna Sipitanou, Business Development Manager, Copley Scientific, spoke on the latest developments in in-vitro testing methods for Orally Inhaled and Nasal Drug Products (OINDPS). He focussed on methods to improve the clinical relevance of testing for bioequivalence as well as specific USP monograph updates and FDA requirements.

The third session was covered by Dr Philippe Rogueda of Merxin. They are designers and suppliers of medical device platforms. Their devices include multidose blister DPI, capsule DPI and fine mist inhaler. Philippe shared his expertise on selecting appropriate device for customer-specific requirement. His talk focussed on how one can accelerate the development of inhaled dosage forms by optimising device development by reducing risk, cost and thus increasing the chances of success.

Thomas Schwarz, Technical Key Account Manager, Constantia Flexibles International GmbH, spoke about the technical aspects of aluminium-based inhalation packaging and materials that can be used as primary and secondary packaging for inhalation products.

Lastly, Marco Laackmann, Director–Inhalation Products, Harro Hofliger shared his knowledge on Powder Dosing and DPI manufacturing technologies. The complexity with respect to fill weight, container closure system and manufacturing technique requirements from lab to commercial scale were discussed. Harro offers various platform technologies for customer-specific projects and turnkey systems.