Aerosol Delivery of Lung Cancer Drugs

描述（由申请人提供）：以吸入气雾剂形式递送抗癌药物是治疗肺癌的一种有吸引力的可能性。许多对癌细胞生长表现出抑制活性的药物是亲脂性的，包括托泊替康、紫杉醇、泰索帝和依托泊苷。目前可用的肺部药物递送系统（CFC推进剂定量吸入器、水溶液喷雾器和干粉吸入器）都不能形成这种药物的可吸入颗粒。因此，仍然明显需要开发专门设计用于亲脂性肺癌药物的肺部给药的气雾剂药物递送系统。我们已经开发了一种基于使用超临界二氧化碳作为溶剂和推进剂的药物雾化方法和装置。二氧化碳 具有与己烷相似的溶剂特性，因此非常适合溶解和雾化亲脂性化合物。该项目的总体目标是开发使用二氧化碳的气雾剂设备，适用于未来的临床前测试，临床试验和肺癌患者护理。具体目标是建立和测试用于气雾剂给药的装置， 拓扑替康、紫杉醇、泰索帝和依托泊苷。预计该项目将导致气溶胶输送设备的可用性，用于未来在肺癌模型或患者中测试癌症药物气溶胶吸入。 拟定商业应用： 在美国，每年有超过15万人死于肺癌，超过乳腺癌、结肠癌和前列腺癌的总和。 低存活率使得癌症患者及其护理人员特别有动力寻求改进的治疗形式。 经过广泛的研究和开发，我们计划销售用于抗癌药物的气雾剂发生设备，目标是医院和癌症诊所作为设备的购买者，肺癌患者作为最终用户。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Delivery of anticancer drugs as inhaled aerosols is an attractive possibility for the treatment of lung cancer. Many of the agents that exhibit inhibitory activity towards cancer cell growth are lipophilic, including topotecan, taxol, taxotere, and etoposide. None of the currently available pulmonary drug delivery systems (CFC-propellant metered dose inhalers, aqueous solution nebulizers, and dry powder inhalers) are capable of forming respirable particles of such drugs. There remains, therefore, a clear need for the development of aerosol drug delivery systems specifically designed for pulmonary administration of lipophilic lung cancer drugs. We have developed a drug aerosolization method and devices based on the use of supercritical carbon dioxide as solvent and propellant. Carbon dioxide has solvent characteristics similar to hexane, so is well suited to dissolve and aerosolize lipophilic compounds. The overall goal of this project is to develop aerosol equipment that uses carbon dioxide and is suitable for future preclinical testing, clinical trials, and lung cancer patient care. The specific aims are to build and test devices for the aerosol administration of topotecan, taxol, taxotere, and etoposide. It is anticipated that this project will lead to the availability of aerosol delivery equipment for future testing of cancer drug aerosol inhalation in lung cancer models or patients. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: Over 150,000 people die from lung cancer in the US each year, more than from breast, colon, and prostate cancer combined. The low survival rate makes cancer patients and their caregivers especially motivated to seek improved forms of therapy. After extensive research and development, we plan to sell aerosol generation devices for anticancer drugs, targeting hospitals and cancer clinics as purchasers of the equipment, and lung cancer patients as the end users.