Advanced Characterization of Inhalation Medicinal Products

Dear Colleagues,

Pulmonary drug delivery over the past twenty years has been demonstrated not only to be a valuable approach to treat a number of local diseases such as infections, asthma, and COPD but has shown great potential for drug delivery systemically thanks to its high surface area and the absorptive potential of the respiratory region of the lungs. This has presented the possibility to develop new and promising products for the delivery of small molecules, as well as peptide and proteins, for the treatment of clinically relevant diseases such as diabetes. However, the look for new therapeutic approaches has led to lead compounds that in comparison to those in the clinical use present some challenges such as lower aqueous solubility; poor permeability; and high dosages sometimes combined with challenging solid state properties impacting aerosol performances such as cohesiveness, hygroscopicity, and poor flowability. On the other side, more complex formulations are proposed, in some cases in view of providing a controlled release of drugs after lung deposition. In this scenario, the classic pharmacopoeial tests for inhalation products do not appear to be the set of tools appropriate to investigate and characterize such new products.

The aim of this Special Issue is to showcase a series of advanced approaches for the characterization of innovative products for pulmonary delivery, with special emphasis on issues related to aerosol performance, physico-chemical characterisation, dissolution studies, particle engineering, controlled release formulations, and the behavior of the product at biological interfaces. As Guest Editors, we cordially invite you to contribute a research paper or comprehensive review on any aspect related to this topic.

Prof. Dr. Fabio Sonvico
Prof. Dr. Francesca Buttini
Guest Editors

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