Conference report: 2nd Medicon Valley Inhalation Symposium

2nd Medicon Valley Inhalation Symposium 16 October 2013, Lund, Sweden The 2nd Medicon Valley Inhalation Symposium was arranged by the Medicon Valley Inhalation Consortium. It was held at the Medicon Village, which is the former AstraZeneca site in Lund, Sweden. It was a 1 day symposium focused on inhaled drug delivery and inhalation product development. 120 delegates listened to 11 speakers. The program was organized to follow the value chain of an inhalation product development. This year there was a focus on inhaled biomolecules. The inhaled delivery of insulin was covered by two presentations and a panel discussion. The future of inhaled drug delivery was discussed together with an overview of the current market situation. Two of the inhalation platforms, capsule inhalers and metered-dose inhalers, were discussed in terms of the present situation and the future opportunities. Much focus was on the regulatory and intellectual aspects of developing inhalation products. The manufacturing of a dry powder inhaler requires precision filling of powder, and the various techniques were presented. The benefits of nebulization and nasal delivery were illustrated with some case studies and examples. The eternal challenge of poor compliance was addressed from an industrial design perspective and some new approaches were introduced.