Advances in soft mist inhalers.

INTRODUCTION: Soft mist inhalers (SMIs) are propellant-free inhalers that utilize mechanical power to deliver single or multiple doses of inhalable drug aerosols in the form of a slow mist to patients. Compared to traditional inhalers, SMIs allow for a longer and slower release of aerosol with a smaller ballistic effect, leading to a limited loss in the oropharyngeal area, whilst requiring little coordination of actuation and inhalation by patients. Currently, the Respimat® is the only commercially available SMI, with several others in different stages of preclinical and clinical development. AREAS COVERED: The primary purpose of this review is to critically assess recent advances in SMIs for the delivery of inhaled therapeutics. EXPERT OPINION: Advanced particle formulations, such as nanoparticles which target specific areas of the lung, Biologics, such as vaccines, proteins, and antibodies (which are sensitive to aerosolization), are expected to be generally delivered by SMIs. Furthermore, repurposed drugs are expected to constitute a large share of future formulations to be delivered by SMIs. SMIs can also be employed for the delivery of formulations that target systemic diseases. Finally, digitalizing SMIs would improve patient adherence and provide clinicians with fundamental insights into patients' treatment progress.

Phase separation micromolding: a new generic approach for microstructuring various materials.

Phase separation micromolding (PSmicroM) is a versatile microfabrication technique that can be used to structure a very broad range of polymers, including block copolymers and biodegradable and conductive polymers without the need for clean-room facilities. By incorporating a subsequent process step, carbon, ceramic, and metallic microstructures can also be fabricated from a polymeric or hybrid precursor. The replication process is straightforward and cost-effective. It relies on phase separation of a polymer solution while in contact with a structured mold. Intrinsic shrinkage during the phase separation facilitates the release of the replica from the mold, which increases the reliability of the process even at small feature sizes, thin polymer films, or high aspect ratios. Under suitable circumstances perforation of the polymer film can be obtained, resulting in completely open "through" microstructures. Furthermore, porosity can be introduced in a microstructure, which may result in unknown functionalities.

Si-supported mesoporous and microporous oxide interconnects as electrophoretic gates for application in microfluidic devices.

Microfluidic analysis systems are becoming an important technology in the field of analytical chemistry. An expanding area is concerned with the control of fluids and species in microchannels by means of an electric field. This paper discusses a new class of Si-compatible porous oxide interconnects for gateable transport of ions. The integration of such thin oxide films in microfluidics devices has been hampered in the past by the compatibility of oxides with silicon technology. A general fabrication method is given for the manufacture of silicon microsieve support structures by micromachining, on which a thin oxide layer is deposited by the spin-coating method. The deposition method was used for constructing gamma-alumina, MCM-48 silica, and amorphous titania films on the support structures, from both water-based and solvent-based oxide sols. The final structures can be applied as microporous and mesoporous interconnecting walls between two microchannels. It is demonstrated that the oxide interconnects can be operated as ion-selective electrophoretic gates. The interconnects suppress Fick diffusion of both charged and uncharged species, so that they can be utilized as ionic gates with complete external control over the transport rates of anionic and cationic species, thus realizing the possibility for implementation of these Si-compatible oxide interconnects in microchip analyses for use as dosing valves or sensors.