Inhaled nintentanib, pirfenidone and macitentan for pulmonary fibrosis: a laboratory experiment

Abstract

Aim: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a rare disease with few efficient drugs in the market. The consequences of this disease are mainly respiratory failure and pulmonary hypertension. Materials & methods: In our experiment we used the drugs pirfenidone, nintetanib and macitentan. We performed nebulization experiments with three jet nebulizers and three ultrasound nebulizers with different combinations of residual cup designs, and residual cup loadings in order to identify which combination produces droplets of less than 5 μm in mass median aerodynamic diameter. Results: Pirfenidone versus nintetanib had smaller droplet size formation at both inhaled technologies (1.37 < 2.23 and 1.92 < 3.11, jet and ultrasound respectively). Discussion: Pirfenidone and nintetanib can be administered as aerosol in any type of nebulization system.

Keywords: jet-nebulizers; macitentan; milling; nintetanib; pirfenidone; pulmonary hypertension; ultrasound nebulizers.