Title:Inhaled Dry Powder Formulations for Treating Tuberculosis
Volume: 12
Issue: 1
Author(s): Shyamal Das, Ian Tucker and Peter Stewart
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Dry powder inhaler, microparticles, powder formulation, pulmonary delivery, spray drying, tuberculosis.
Abstract: Tuberculosis is the second leading cause of death from infectious diseases. Although antitubercular
drugs have been traditionally administered orally, there is a growing interest in delivering drugs
via the pulmonary route using nebulisers or dry powder inhalers. Drugs in dry powder inhalers (DPI) are stable
and DPI are user-friendly compared to nebulisation which is time consuming, inconvenient and inefficient
and requires special equipment. For tuberculosis treatment, drugs should target alveolar macrophages that
harbour microorganisms and/or maintain high drug concentration at the infection site in the lung. Drug particles include
micro-particles or nanoparticles. Powders can be engineered by micronisation, crystallisation, spray drying, freeze drying
and particle coating approaches. The formulation may contain single or combination drugs. This paper will provide an update
on current status of TB, its pathogenesis, current treatment strategies, shortcomings of current oral or parenteral delivery
strategies, pulmonary delivery devices, advantages of pulmonary delivery of powder formulations, formulation approaches
and pharmacokinetic studies of pulmonary delivery of powders for inhalation.
