title: Single-use disposable dry powder inhalers for pulmonary drug delivery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The understanding of pulmonary drug delivery and thus its utilization for medical purposes has remarkably advanced over the last decades. It has been recognized that this route of administration offers many advantages and several drug delivery systems have been developed accordingly. Thereby, single-use disposable dry powder inhalers may be considered an economically and therapeutically valuable option for both local and systemic administration of drugs to treat a variety of different disease states.
  This review highlights the required characteristics and potential applications of single-use disposable dry powder inhalers considering advantages as well as limitations of these drug delivery devices. Until now, such drug delivery systems have not become widely accepted. Several devices are available or under development and a few products have reached or completed the clinical phase, but none of them have received market authorization as yet.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Recent advances in formulation and device design, however, can be considered encouraging and should eventually lead to a wider establishment of single-use disposable dry powder inhalers in pulmonary drug delivery.
authors.affiliation: Christian Albrecht University, Department of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics, Gutenbergstr. 76, 24118 Kiel, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Friebel
authors.forename: Hartwig
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Steckel
mesh_terms: D000280:Administration, Inhalation; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D058995:Dry Powder Inhalers; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D014612:Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D014612:Vaccines