Building respirable powder architectures: utilizing polysaccharides for precise control of particle morphology for enhanced pulmonary drug delivery

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Dry powder inhaler (DPI) formulations are gaining attention as universal formulations with applications in a diverse range of drug formulations. The practical application of DPIs to pulmonary drugs requires enhancing their delivery efficiency to the target sites for various treatment modalities. Previous reviews have not explored the relation between particle morphology and delivery to different pulmonary regions. This review introduces new approaches to improve targeted DPI delivery using novel particle design such as supraparticles and metal-organic frameworks based on cyclodextrin.

Areas covered

This review focuses on the design of DPI formulations using polysaccharides, promising excipients not yet approved by regulatory agencies. These excipients can be used to design various particle morphologies by controlling their physicochemical properties and manufacturing methods.

Expert opinion

Challenges associated with DPI formulations include poor access to the lungs and low delivery efficiency to target sites in the lung. The restricted applicability of typical excipients contributes to their limited use. However, new formulations based on polysaccharides are expected to establish a technological foundation for the development of DPIs capable of delivering modalities specific to different lung target sites, thereby enhancing drug delivery.

KEYWORDS:

• Polysaccharides
• supraparticles
• cyclodextrin-based metal-organic frameworks
• morphology
• particle engineering
• dry powder inhaler

Article highlights

• Morphological drug control is important in dry powder inhaler formulations for lung administration.

• There are various particle engineering techniques for morphological drug control.

• Morphological drug control is conducted separately for particles with different types of excipients.

• There is a demand for particle morphological control in inhalable powder formulations using new excipients meeting safety and biocompatibility requirements.

Declarations of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was funded by the Hosokawa Powder Technology Foundation [J-008], the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science [21K06504, 21K20495, 23K06245].