Inhalation devices

Inhalers are drug delivery devices used to administer the drug into the lungs through patient’s breathing. This allows medicines for lung treatments to be delivered directly to the diseased lungs allowing a rapid effect as well as a reduction in the side effects of oral or injectable medications.

A Dry Powder Inhaler (DPI) is a type of inhaler commonly used to deliver powder formulations into the lungs.
A DPI can be preloaded with the medication(s) or loaded by a patient with capsules as the dose-holding system, prior to use. DPIs are breath-activated as the medication is released only when you take a deep, fast breath in through the inhaler. This is different than a metered dose inhaler that pushes medication into the lungs.
In DPIs, a patient’s breathing capacity is critical in generating the desired therapeutic outcome as the dispersed powder needs to be broken into particles of the right size and be deposited appropriately into the lungs.

A Pressurized Metered-Dose Inhaler (pMDI) is a device used to deliver medication into the lungs. It is composed of a pressurized canister of medication that fits into a mouthpiece.
In most instances, a dose of medication is released into the lungs by pushing the canister into the mouthpiece.
Breath-activated pMDIs release medication automatically when the patient inhales. Most pressurized metered-dose inhalers have counters that track how many doses remain in the canister.