M A K I N G A S T H M A
I N H A L E R S G R E E N E R
A N D M O R E R O B U S T
P R I O R P L M M E D I C A L
T H E C O M P A N Y
Prior PLM Medical (PPLM) is a research, design
and development company that specialises in
drug-delivery systems, respiratory devices and
injectables. Serving the medical-device and
pharmaceutical industries, it manages the entire life
cycle of products, from concept research through to
product development, tooling project-management,
manufacturing and industrialisation. It has
50 employees at its base in Carrick-on-Shannon,
Ireland, and an annual turnover of €3.8m.
T H E W O R K
PPLM have been coming to the ESRF to study
asthma inhalers since 2013. The high-energy
X-rays at the ESRF allow PPLM’s researchers to
examine the workings of the inhalers and other
medical devices during use.
In dry-powder inhalers, for instance, ESRF X-rays
reveal the movement of components inside the
dose counters, trigger mechanisms and dosing
events, allowing their interactions to be observed
during normal use, or even misuse. Another aspect
of interest is how the inner geometry of an inhaler
af fects the f low of dry-powder medicant to a user’s
lungs. Here, high-speed X-ray imaging at the ESRF
can produce real-time videos of the drug particles
in f light, even examining the f low dynamics within
individual dose capsules and vortex chambers
T H E I M P A C T
“The ESRF is an amazing facility. As a physicist, it is
an exciting place to work – very welcoming, very
accommodating. The data have informed designs
of inhaler that are just now beginning to appear
on the market – ones that are more user-friendly,
especially for very young and very old asthma
suf ferers. We are spending a lot of time looking
at pressurised metered-dose or ‘press-and-breathe’
inhalers, which currently use a propellant known
as hydrofluoroalkane a greenhouse gas With
the advent of new regulations well be back at the
ESRF of ten in the coming years to study alternative
greener propellants and how to accommodate
their very dif ferent properties
Alan McKiernan research manager Prior PLM
Medical
“The ESRF is
an amazing facility
– very welcoming,
very accommodating.”
Alan McKiernan, research manager,
Prior PLM Medical
I M P A C T O N I N D U S T R YIndustry uses ESRF instrumentation
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