Page 4 - DME Pharmacy, April 2019

A Breath of Fresh Air
Respiratory drug delivery systems are getting
a tech makeover and rapidly advancing toward better outcomes. Now is the time to learn more.
says Linda Trevenen, business leader for respira- tory drug delivery at Philips. “We also recognize that older patients with COPD may have dif- ficulty using a wide range of aerosol devices effectively because of their comorbidities and cognitive and physical impairments.”
IMPROVING COMPLIANCE —
AND DELIVERY
Dr. Ralph Finger wanted to eliminate all that for his young, asthmatic daughter a few years ago, so he developed the FLYP Nebulizer which is produced by Convexity Scientific Inc.
“A very big issue with treating any disease
is compliance. If someone doesn’t take their medication, they’re not going to get better. If it is not easy for people to take their medication, they’re generally not going to take it,” he says. “A big part of what we are trying to do is intro- duce a device that will get the patient to take the medication.”
Beyond getting your patient to keep up the regimen, the key to proper inhaled medication is the particle size, he says. “The challenges
of getting drugs into the lungs are getting the solutions into fine enough particles to inhale, and making sure the particles are the right size,” Finger says. “There is a challenge to create a uniform mist with 2-3 micron particles.” The Flyp tackles that with an internal, perforated disk that vibrates at ultrasonic speed. When medication passes through the disk’s holes, it produces an inhalable aerosol mist, with the time needed to dispense medication shortened to about seven minutes for most medications.
The Flyp device has been FDA-cleared
for use with any medication intended for a general-purpose nebulizer, such as albuterol, ipratropium bromide, cromolyn sodium, and budesonide, in addition to other medications. It is powered by a lithium-ion battery that recharg- es via micro USB. It gets eight to 10 treatments on a full charge, which takes roughly an hour and a half.
Portability makes a big difference to patients, but it’s not everything. “Adherence and poor us- ability remain a challenge,” Trevenen says. “One strategy for managing both issues is connect- ing drug delivery devices through the use of mobile applications. A connected drug delivery solution provides a more usable and learnable device that better fits into patients’ lifestyles. Likewise, a connected solution addresses payer needs of measurements of results and compli- ance data to justify spending.”
Most DME pharmacy clients using home respi- ratory aids or drug delivery will be asthma, COPD and cystic fibrosis patients. A significant portion of these patient groups is youngsters and elders who might have trouble managing, or even
By Holly Wagner
Nebulizers and oxygen systems have been around for decades, and they’ve helped improve the lives of countless patients. But with self-administered treat- ments comes the risk that patients will use the treatments improperly or stop using them at all. That, of course, can lead to emergencies, hospitalizations and worse.
Everyone agrees that compliance is the key to the best outcomes. For the DME pharmacy that means helping the patient find the most comfortable and practical system for their
lifestyle; often that means the most portable system. Patients put a high premium on smaller, lighter and shortest possible medication deliv- ery time, but also value equipment that’s reli- able and quiet. In other words, as unobtrusive as possible.
“It is not uncommon for patients with respira- tory diseases to spend a lot of time taking their treatments, including equipment setup, ad- ministration and cleaning after each use. Some patients may administer several different treat- ments each day, which can add up to several hours revolving around managing their illness,”
4 April 2019 | DME Pharmacy
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