Bringing Smartness to Drugs Through Inhalers
Spraying drugs into your mouth doesn’t sound very appealing. Until you discover the work of Dr. Warren Finlay.
 In collaboration with colleagues in pharmacy and medicine, the NSERC researcher has invented a new drug delivery system, nanoparticle cluster bombs, that might be useful in treating diseases such as lung cancer. The cluster bombs contain lung cancer medication, in powder form, which reaches the lungs and dissolves into nanoparticles. Dr. Finlay’s nanoparticles are “intelligent” because they escape the immune system’s surveillance to target cancerous cells while leaving healthy ones alone. This targeting is accomplished by altering the surface properties of the particles.
Although this drug delivery system is impressive, Dr. Finlay took it one step further by designing a new dry-powder inhaler – like the ones used by asthmatics – to deliver his nanoparticle cluster bombs.
The inhaler won first prize in April, in an Association of Health Technologies Industry competition and has been licensed to LAB Pharma, the Laval-based pharmaceutical product development division of LAB International.
Dr. Finlay heads the Aerosol Research Laboratory of Alberta and believes there is more sophistication to come. “This is the very earliest version of this technology,” he said.
As a mechanical engineer, Dr. Finlay is looking to expand the technology to treat cystic fibrosis, asthma and diabetes. He also sees the new drug delivery system being used to manage pain.
Dr. Finlay is also working on a manufacturing process called spray-freeze drying to produce powders efficiently in a new way that will allow scale-up. He hopes to apply this process to produce a whooping cough vaccine for Third World countries.
Contact:
Dr. Warren Finlay
University of Alberta
Tel. : (780) 492-4707
E-mail: Warren.Finlay@ualberta.ca
Web site: http://www.mece.ualberta.ca/staff/finlay.htm
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