All set for new course Pharmaceutical aerosols

(Image removed) Göran Alderborn, Professor and member of Sweden Inhalation Network

Why a course on inhaled drugs at this moment?
“Since my years as a Project coordinator of SDDF - predecessor to SweDeliver - I have been involved in the Sweden Inhalation Network, a constellation uniting nearly 100 professionals in academia and industry. Since our start in 2019, we have comprehended that our discipline is characterised by great knowledge, but also increasing average age. Thus, we have to awake a new generation's interest in pulmonary drug delivery while at the same initiate a transfer of competence, and here education is a natural part of the mix.”

What is the setup for the course?
“Our ambition is for each participant to gain a broad overview of the field, and we have therefore built in four separate modules, each comprising three to five lectures. As the themes suggest – for example Physiology and pharmacology of the airways – we have chosen a relatively basic approach. The lectures are given online every fortnight before we round up the course with a homework assignment that is to be reported in late November.”

(Image removed) Pulmonary drug delivery • SweDeliver focus area

What interest do you meet among your intended target group?
“Given that we have chosen to launch this autumn's course as a pilot run, the response must be described as remarkably positive. We currently have 22 registered participants, nine of whom are PhD students or postdocs - among them two from SweDeliver, and a master's student. The rest are professionals, mainly from Small and medium-sized enterprises, but AstraZeneca is also represented.”

The list of confirmed lecturers displays high ambitions. Has it required great efforts to gather the troops?
“We entered this work with the intention of creating a foothold at both Uppsala, Lund and Gothenburg Universities and within the pharmaceutical industry. In addition, we wanted to enrol the finest in our field, and if I may say so, we have succeeded well on both counts. Here, the good intentions that characterise the Sweden Inhalation Network has provided us with a solid platform to build from, so no, the recruitment of lecturers has rather gone very smoothly.”

What awaits when the pilot run is a success?
”If the evaluation gives the green light for a continuation, our next step is to analyse the long term interest in the course in order to assess how often it is reasonable to provide it. In possible future courses, we aim to increase our focus on master's students, who rarely have reached as far in their career paths as PhD students and professionals. We also have ideas regarding joint study visits, practical sessions and another four modules of high relevance for industry as well, but again: these remain questions for the future.”

First a summer leave to recharge the battery before the course starts?
“Not quite yet, in June the Sweden Inhalation Network will meet for a mini-conference at AstraZeneca's site in Mölndal where we together with Läkemedelsakademin gather to discuss excipients for inhalation drugs - but after that there is good hope for a holiday slot in the calendar.”

FACTS

• Pharmaceutical aerosols is an online course (6 cr.) starting 15 September 2023
• Sweden Inhalation Network works to give a new generation of Swedish researchers access to leading expertise in pulmonary drug delivery.
• SweDeliver’s research in pulmonary drug delivery revolves around controlled release, dissolution and absorption of drugs in the lungs, and powder mechanics of adhesive mixtures.

LEARN MORE

• SweDeliver Pulmonary Drug Delivery Work package
• Excipients in inhalation medicines – function, characterization and regulation • Mölndal, 15 juni

CONTACT

(Image removed) Göran Alderborn, Professor
Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences
Goran.Alderborn@farmbio.uu.se

text: Magnus Alsne, photo: Mikael Wallerstedt a o