Respimat performance

The Respimat inhaler was recently launched in Germany as a combination product of fenoterol and ipratropium hydrobromide (Berodual) and was licensed for the treatment of chronic obstructive airway disease. A large body of literature now exists documenting the aerosol characteristics and clinical performance of the Respimat inhaler with a number of different drugs [274,275]. Aerosolized formulations include the steroids budesonide and flunisolide in addition to the p agonist fenoterol as well as the commercially available combination product of fenoterol and ipratropium bromide [276-281],... 

Aqueous and ethanolic formulations have been employed with the Respimat and the in vitro aerosol performance determined. Zierenberg (1999) reported fine-particle fractions of 66% for an aqueous fenoterol formulation and 81% for an ethanolic flunisolide formulation. The respective MMADs were 2.0 0.4 pm for the aqueous formulation and 1.0 0.3 pm for the ethanolic formulation [284],... 

The performance of the Respimat was clearly improved for the flnal prototype compared with Prototype III. Drug deposition in the lungs increased from approximately 31% to 39% for the fenoterol, and from about 40% to 45% for the drug compound of flunisolide respectively. At the same time, the oral-pharyngeal deposition decreased from approximately 54% to 37%... 

Zierenberg B (1999) Optimizing the in vitro performance of respimat. J Aerosol Med 12(Suppl 1) S19-S24... 

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