American Association for Aerosol Research - Abstract Submission

AAAR 34th Annual Conference
October 12 - October 16, 2015
Hyatt Regency
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

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Temperature and Humidity Effects on Pressurized Metered Dose Inhaler Sprays

James Ivey, Chelsea Morin, Farzin Shemirani, Jonathan Suderman, Jordan Titosky, Susan Hoe, Reinhard Vehring, WARREN H. FINLAY, University of Alberta, Canada

     Abstract Number: 408
     Working Group: Health Related Aerosols

Abstract
Results of recent studies assessing the effects of ambient temperature, ambient humidity, and device temperature on the performance of solution and suspension pressurized metered dose inhalers (pMDIs) are presented. A selection of commercial and research pMDI formulations were evaluated using the Alberta Idealized Throat to measure the in vitro lung dose. A custom enclosure with temperature and humidity control was utilized to vary ambient temperature, ambient humidity, and device temperature. For low temperature tests, a heating device was utilized on the Alberta Throat to simulate extrathoracic heat transfer. Filtration followed by gravimetric or chemometric assay was used to quantify the in vitro lung dose. It was found that a reduction in either ambient or device temperature resulted in a reduction in in vitro lung dose, as did an increase in ambient humidity. Further, the severity of the effects on lung dose were found to vary across the tested pMDI formulations and devices. These findings bring to light potential difficulties faced by patients who may use their pMDIs in a wide variety of environmental conditions. Further research is needed to fully understand the interactions among device, formulation, and environmental variables and to enable more robust pMDI performance for drug products with a global market.