Preparation of nanoparticles by spray-drying and their use for efficient pulmonary drug delivery

The use of nanoparticulate systems for pulmonary drug delivery offers a number of advantages including the significantly improved delivery efficiency to the deep lung and the improved bioavailability. The traditional nanoparticle manufacturing process such as ball/jet milling may generate large aggregates, which could detrimentally inhibit the effective delivery of drug particles to the lower respiratory way. Here we report an alternative technique of spray-drying nanoemulsion to produce nanoparticles (<100 nm) that can be dispersed homogenously in the propellant to form an extremely stable pressurized metered dose inhaler formulation. Such nanoparticulate formulations dramatically improve the efficiency of drug delivery to the lungs, and therefore provide an ideal tool for pulmonary drug delivery.