| Better Medicines |
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| Written by Graham Ruecroft |
| Sunday, 18 January 2009 12:06 |
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The Titanic sank in 1912. In the same year, and as a consequence of this, a competition was prompted to discover and develop non-visual methods for detection of icebergs. This led to the echo sounding technique that became known as SONAR (SOund Navigation And Ranging). In 1917 it was found that severe erosion of ships propellers at fast spinning rate was a result of localized cavitational bubble collapse. These events paved the way for the emergence of ultrasound as a tool in many areas of science, engineering and medicine. Many will be familiar with the use of ultrasound in diverse fields such as medical imaging, physiotherapy and SONAR (some For many drug particles the usual method of manufacture involves taking large crystals and physically breaking them into smaller drug particles. Prosonix technologies allow manufacture of particles that are grown, or engineered, to the right size from the smallest building blocks - the molecules of the drug substance in question. For oral delivery we can manufacture the drug ingredients with higher purity, increased stability and improved performance when being formulated as tablets of capsules. For newer medicines, whilst well-designed to alleviate illness and disease symptoms, they can be very insoluble in water.
For those who suffer from asthma, cystic fibrosis and even lung cancer, small particles for inhaled medicines can be made by Prosonix technologies. In order to reach the right place in the upper (for asthma, COPD) or lower (antibiotics for example) airways of the lung the particles must be around 1 -5 micron sized or with a diameter around 20 x less than that of a human hair. It is important that for asthma sufferers the particles are prepared so that when released from the inhaler they arrive into the lung and don't simply fall on to the tongue and then swallowed. Of course they must get out of the inhaler in the first place. That is where Prosonix delivers improvement in These two drugs complement (synergy) each other in the lung - the bronchodilator opens the airways and the steroid reduces inflammation. For example many asthma and COPD sufferers use Seretide / Advair from GSK and Symbicort from AstraZeneca. However it is important that the 2 medicines arrive in the lung together to have maximum effects. Prosonix technologies ensure that, when manufactured by our methods, the 2 components arrive together because the have been prepared together and can be seen as one - they chaperone each other to the site of action. Unfortunately the standard technique of dry blending means that they don't always arrive together and some particle don't arrive at all! Prosonix technologies will deliver better medicines now and in the future. Refer our website to friends and colleagues or contact the Prosonix team for further information. |
| Last Updated on Monday, 18 May 2009 17:16 |