MEDICAL GRAND ROUNDS - MAY 21, 1998 - FAIRCHILD - 8:00 a.m.
TOM RAFFIN, our vigorous and productive Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine has arranged for MICHAEL NEWHOUSE, M.D. to give us Grand Rounds.
Dr. Newhouse is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at McMaster and is here for a year working with TR and at INHALE, a company in Silicon Valley that is developing ways to deliver proteins to people by inhaling them, rather than injecting them. There is no question about Dr. Newhouse's conflicts of interest: they are abundant! Among other honors in a long career, he is currently the President of the International Society for Aerosols in Medicine.
Have you ever visited INHALE? The company is based on the observations that if delivered in the correct physical form, proteins are nicely absorbed through the upper respiratory tract. They have a great machine (I hope Professor Newhouse brings one along). It is a ~liter-sized plastic cylinder with a mouthpiece coming off the top and a mechanical explosive device at the bottom. You put your lyophilized protein on the stage at the bottom, push a button, and WHAM, the protein is aerosolized and you inhale deeply from the mouthpiece. The cloud of protein distributes itself through your respiratory tree, gets absorbed, and begins its work. Insulin, proteins for inducing oral tolerance, you name it ... it can be inhaled/absorbed.
There is lots of science behind all this ... it could put the needle companies out of business (or, they can sell them to needle exchange programs).
Preview by Edward D. Harris, Jr., M.D