T.A. APARNA
My Innovation I have invented a new insulin inhaler. Usually, Insulin is given by injections to the patients, which results in people staying away from taking the medicine regularly. Keeping this problem in mind, I thought to come up with this new inhaler through which one can inhale insulin easily. The inhaler has a mouth piece on one side, insulin port on opposite side, a propellant can as in asthma inhalers on top. Insulin is loaded inside; mouth piece is kept in mouth. As inhaled, propellant can is pressed to spray insulin into lungs. Impact on society Injections are always considered as a strict no-no for people. No one willingly would accept having an injection. This innovation is an alternative to injections. Lungs are good absorbers of Insulin and the insulin is not altered in lungs. The dermal injections are erratic in absorption and cause lot of failures too. The Spark When my relatives complained of pain and poor controls with the use of injection, I thought of the suffering faced by them. This lead me to the concept of having an inhaler for the same. In case of Asthmatics, they have complete relief with such inhalers. The lungs have better blood supply than skin and there is no destruction in lungs. From a student to an Entrepreneur When such an idea came up, I approached TePP program, and TBI Madras readily came for help. Those were days of Pfizer inventing Exubra inhaler. This is lower than 10% in lung deposit & 90% failure, had poor inhalation techniques. So I thought of why not improving on this. Pfizer
discontinued the inhaler as it was poor. Exubera is the first of the inhaled insulin to be released. It is a shortacting powder form of insulin that is inhaled before each meal. A longacting insulin still needs to be given each day by injection. In developing Exubera, Pfizer and Aventis have collaborated with Nektar Therapeutics (formerly Inhale Therapeutics), a company that specializes in finding delivery solutions for oral, injectable and pulmonary drug administration to create an inhaler. The Exubera inhaler weighs about 4 ounces and is about the size of an eyeglass case when closed. It opens to about 12 inches for delivery. It is portable but not discreet. Similar to other inhaled insulins, a number of side effects have been reported. These include coughing, shortness of breath, sore throat and dry mouth. Exubera is not approved for smokers or anyone who has smoked in the last six months because almost twice as much of the inhaled insulin can enter the bloodstream and increase the possibility of an overdose. It is also not improved for anyone with a lung disorder, such as asthma, emphysema, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Exercise also increases transport and likelihood of lows. Differences from Exubra charactermine exubra Spray byPropellant blows spray Inhales a powdersize 10 cms, 40gms 30cms120gmsefficiencyTo be evaluated failed Insulin activity preserved Additives decrease Ease of inhalation Small , easy to inhale long, deep, can expect more lung deposit Shallow breathing I am waiting 2nd phase of testing. In phase 1, it had proved that the new inhaler can
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