title: Inhaled dry powder formulations for treating tuberculosis.
abstract: Tuberculosis is the second leading cause of death from infectious diseases. Although antitubercular drugs have been traditionally administered orally, there is a growing interest in delivering drugs via the pulmonary route using nebulisers or dry powder inhalers. Drugs in dry powder inhalers (DPI) are stable and DPI are user-friendly compared to nebulisation which is time consuming, inconvenient and inefficient and requires special equipment. For tuberculosis treatment, drugs should target alveolar macrophages that harbour microorganisms and/or maintain high drug concentration at the infection site in the lung. Drug particles include micro-particles or nanoparticles. Powders can be engineered by micronisation, crystallisation, spray drying, freeze drying and particle coating approaches. The formulation may contain single or combination drugs. This paper will provide an update on current status of TB, its pathogenesis, current treatment strategies, shortcomings of current oral or parenteral delivery strategies, pulmonary delivery devices, advantages of pulmonary delivery of powder formulations, formulation approaches and pharmacokinetic studies of pulmonary delivery of powders for inhalation.
authors.affiliation: New Zealand's National School of Pharmacy, University of Otago, Adams Building, 18 Frederick Street, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand. Shyamal.das@otago.ac.nz.
authors.forename: Shyamal
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Das
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tucker
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stewart
mesh_terms: D000280:Administration, Inhalation; D000336:Aerosols; D000818:Animals; D000995:Antitubercular Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry; D002626:Chemistry, Pharmaceutical; D004338:Drug Combinations; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000295:instrumentation*; D058995:Dry Powder Inhalers; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D010316:Particle Size; D011208:Powders; D013678:Technology, Pharmaceutical / Q000379:methods; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D000336:Aerosols; D000995:Antitubercular Agents; D004338:Drug Combinations; D011208:Powders