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Pharmaceutical Manufacturing and Packing Sourcer
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Aerosol therapy has been used for hundreds of years to treat a variety of pulmonary diseases such as asthma (1), COPD and cystic fibrosis. Aerosol therapy was initially used because the speed of onset of drugs such as anticholinergics and beta2-agonists is much greater when inhaled as compared with oral therapy (2). In addition, the inhaled route confers benefits in terms of the therapeutic index for drugs such as beta2-agonists, inhaled corticosteroids (3) and aminoglycoside antibiotics.
Although it has become the mainstay of therapy for conditions such as asthma and COPD, many patients fail to benefit from inhaled therapy because of the difficulties inherent in this form of drug delivery. The effectiveness of aerosol therapy can be negated by poor compliance, lack of competence or contrivance (4) (patients who know how to use a device but who contrive to use it in ways that ensure no drug will reach the lungs).
At present there is no good evidence to support the suggestion that compliance with inhaled therapy is significantly worse than with oral therapy. However, even when patients do comply with a given treatment regimen, they may fail to derive any benefit if they do not possess the necessary competence to use a device (particularly problematic in the elderly) (4, 5), or contrive to use them ineffectually (particularly common among those prescribed holding chambers (4, 6) but also an issue among those using devices such as breath-actuated, pressurised, metered-dose inhalers [pMDIs] and nebulisers).
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Industry Events |
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4th Annual Patient Recruitment and Retention in Clinical Trials
13-15 October 2008, Amsterdam
Patient recruitment
is now consuming thirty percent of clinical trial time - more time than any
other clinical trial activity - and almost half of all trial delays result from
patient recruitment problems.
As the
recruiting culture becomes more sophisticated and the forces affecting patient
enrollment grow more numerous and complex, pharmaceutical companies are
striving to discover new strategies to facilitate enrollment in clinical
trials.
With
increasing industry pressure to develop, test and market greater numbers of new
drugs faster, pharmaceutical companies need to perform clinical trials as
quickly as possible. Inefficient patient recruitment processes is a formidable
barrier to pharmaceutical companies' success in launching new products.
Improving the patient recruitment process is imperative to avoid wasted
investments and eliminate costly delays in bringing new drugs to market --
today and even more so in the not-so-distant future. Improved patient
recruitment presents one of the largest opportunities for pharmaceutical
companies to eliminate delays in clinical trials, thereby making it possible to
reduce time to market. With patent time limits and large overheads
meaning that any delays in the development timeline can be disastrous, a good
understanding of how to successfully recruit patients for trials is vital for
any company looking to succeed.
More info >> |
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News and Press Releases |
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Biovian expands - and invests in new capacity
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