As well as exhibiting at this year's Drug Delivery to the Lungs conference (DDL21; 8-10 Dec 10; Edinburgh, Scotland), specialists from Malvern Instruments will present a scientific poster "Characterizing a nasal spray formulation from droplet to API particle size", which examines the complementarity of automated image analysis and laser diffraction for characterizing nasal spray formulations. 

Nasal spray deposition relates to the droplet size that is delivered while bioavailability depends on a  number of factors, significant among which is the size distribution of the API. Laser diffraction analysis using Malvern's Spraytec system enables the monitoring of changes in droplet size, and can be used to investigate the robustness of the delivery system. Image analysis with Malvern's Morphologi G3-ID, which integrates automated size/shape analysis of particles with the chemical identification provided by Raman spectroscopy, permits the detection of even subtle changes in API size distribution. Such changes can be brought about by the spray process itself and potentially may affect bioavailability .  

These two highly complementary techniques have applications for a variety of inhaled products. Dry powder inhaler development, which demands detailed study of the dynamics of powder entrainment and dispersion, as well as an understanding of the structure of the delivered particles, offers another example. Techniques which can follow the process of particle dispersion, and then identify which species have been dispersed to a respirable particle size, can offer significant benefits, especially when developing new combination therapies. 

For further informationplease visit www.malvern.com/spraytec_oindp