US med-tech firm unveils novel platform for reduced-risk nicotine products

Pneuma Respiratory, a US-based med-tech pharmaceutical company focused on the advancement of inhaled respiratory therapeutics, said it has created a new technology platform capable of delivering nonheated, water-based aerosols composed of droplets with diameters less than 1/100,000th of an inch.

Nonheated delivery of nicotine requires aerosols with extremely small droplet sizes. Pneuma said its platform will, for the first time, provide a means to use nonheated aerosols for inhaled nicotine smoking cessation treatments and has the potential for a major impact on the reduced-risk nicotine consumer market.

“Our team at Pneuma has made a remarkable breakthrough in the delivery of aerosols with the extremely small droplets that are required for nonheated inhaled nicotine,” said Sid Clements, Pneuma’s chief technology officer and Faculty Fellow at NASA’s Electrostatics and Surface Physics Lab.

Pneuma added that it has a joint development program with a leading tobacco company aimed at creating nonheated nicotine delivery products.

The company said it will take its technology, in a fully digital platform, through clinical trials aimed at creating a therapeutic treatment for smoking cessation. The digital platform is designed to precisely deliver nicotine to satisfy cravings and dynamically step down the amount over time. Sensors track and report feedback to the user about their nicotine consumption and trends via an app. Onboard authentication via fingerprint scanner eliminates the ability for misuse by youth or anyone not authorised to use the device.

“Pneuma has laid the groundwork for products that can go a long way toward helping patients stop smoking,” Jay Morgan, Pneuma’s chairman and former chief research officer at Merck Consumer Health, commented.

Founded in 2015, Pneuma is based in Boone in North Carolina, US with operations in Shenzhen, China. The company has expertise in drug formulation development, aerosol physics and handheld digital device design.

In addition to smoking cessation and reduced-risk nicotine, Pneuma’s programs target chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other lung conditions.