Riker Laboratories

British Patent 879,259 October 11,1961 assigned to Riker Laboratories, Inc. 

CSIRO postdoctoral fellow, 1979. Present address Research and Development Department, Riker Laboratories, Thornleigh, New South Wales, Australia. 

The invention of the first pMDI by Riker Laboratories (now 3M Pharmaceuticals) was described in detail recently, and was approved by the FDA in March 1956. The Medihaler-Ept and Medihaler-Iso were launched at the same time. Illustrations... 

The first MDI products were developed by Riker Laboratories and marketed in 1956, using a newly patented design of metering valve. In most countries the MDI is now established as the principal dosage form of inhalation drug therapy for bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Since its introduction, MDI technology has evolved steadily. However, with the phase-out in the commercial use of chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) propellants, which have been the mainstay of pharmaceutical MDIs, the pace of MDI technology development has accelerated with the transition to hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) propellants. ... 

ROBERT A. SCHERRER and SUSAN M. HOWARD Riker Laboratories, St. Paul, MN 55101... 

Another very elegant and highly portable device that aids patient coordination is the breath-actuated inhaler, originally developed by Riker Laboratories (3M) [47] and further enhanced by Ivax-Norton (EasiBreathe). In this type of device, a mechanical release mechanism is used, firing the MDI when a certain threshold inspiratory flowrate is reached. Once the dose has been dispensed, the device is then reprimed, ready for use. This type of device has gained wide acceptance in Europe and has been introduced for several MDI products. 

The first metered dose inhaler, Medihaler Epi was introduced in 1956 by Riker Laboratories (3M Pharmaceuticals) for the management of asthma and COPD. The delivery device has been well accepted since that time, as evidenced by the annual production of over a half-billion units (McDonald and Martin, 2000). Since the introduction of the MDI, (3-adrenergic agonists, anticholinergics, corticosteroids, and cromolyn compounds have been the staple of management for the commonly occurring lung diseases, asthma and COPD. 

William Breckon, The Drug Makers (London Eyre Methuen, 1972), p. 29. Of the top companies, Riker Laboratories, ranked sixteenth in 1962, is the only one not covered in the previous chapters. It was a subsidiary of Rexall Drug, a major U.S. retail drug chain and successor to Drugs, Inc., which produced some of its own products. It later became part of the conglomerate Dart Industries. See Chandler, Scale and Scope, pp. 164, 755 Moody s Industrial Manual (1955), p. 246, and (1969), pp. 2152-2153. 

Riker Laboratories, now 3M Healthcare, invented the pressurised metered dose inhaler (MDI) in 1955 when they combined the atomising power of CFCs and a metering valve design. The great majority of valves still use this basic retention valve principle, and hence pressurised MDIs (pMDIs) are all similar in appearance and operation when used with a standard actuator in the normal press and breathe manner. 

We wish to thank Dr. Beata Jencks for her valued and able assistance. The heparin used in these studies was contributed by Abbot Laboratories, North Chicago, 111., and Riker Laboratories, Northridge, Calif. 

On the day of the experiment, 20 mL of whole blood was drawn into heparin (6 units/mL Riker Laboratories) by venipuncture from normal healthy volunteers. The saline solution was removed from the parallel-disc apparatus, and 10 mL of blood was inserted between the discs. The top disc was then rotated at 200 rpm (shear rate range 0-1200 s ) for 15, 30, or 90 min, while the entire assembly was maintained at 37°C in a free-convection incubator. The space between the top disc and the collar was less than 2 mm, to minimize blood-air contact, and a cover over the discs (not shown in Figure 2) contained a water reservoir to humidify the air over the discs and prevent drying of the blood. 

Flecainide acetate is a class Ic antiarrhythmic agent which was developed in the Riker Laboratories as part of a broad-based project investigating the effect of fluorine substitution on local anaesthetic or antiarrhythmic activity. The details concerning the development of this drug have been reported. ... 

The pressurized metered-dose inhaler (pMDI) for the delivery of antiasthma drugs originated in the U.S. cosmetic industry. George Maison, the president of Riker Laboratories, and Irvin Porash, who worked in Riker s pharmaceutical development laboratory, are credited with the development of the first pMDI (32). Experiments were conducted to formulate pressurized aerosols of isoproterenol and epinephrine, which had been dissolved in alcohol, using the freon propellants 12 and 114. 

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