RESPIRE project: Developing a pulmonary drug delivery system

TELEMAQ, the R&D company, under special contract for medical systems was selected by the ANR* to manage this project in 2008.

The project, accredited by the EUROBIOMED competitiveness cluster and funded by the ANR consists in developing a pulmonary drug delivery system to care for newborn babies suffering from diseases such as acute bronchitis, asthma and cystic fibrosis.

Interview with Jean-Denis Sauzade, CEO of TELEMAQ1, the company managing the project.

1 - Can you tell us more about the Respire project and its challenges? Why is TELEMAQ managing this project?
Chronic bronchopulmonary diseases have become a major public health issue affecting 3.5 million people in France. In France in particular, approximately 450,000 infants suffer from these diseases every year (out of 800,000 births).    The RESPIRE project began with a simple observation: no medical nebulizer used to care for these diseases is suited to very young children. Indeed, pulmonary drug delivery systems are aimed at adults and not in any way suited to the physiological and anatomical characteristics of children.

TELEMAQ began the project which is based on one of its proprietary technologies: a pocket-sized electronic medical nebulizer which is used to deliver very fine aerosols is highly effective at reaching the pulmonary alveoli.

2 - To date, what progress has been made with the project?
The systems have been developed and fully characterised. The project is currently in the clinical trials phase for the treatment of both acute bronchitis and asthma. The in vitro and in vivo results are very positive.

3 - What organisations are you working with and what skills do these partnerships provide?
The project is organised around a consortium of three entities: INSERM (French National Institute of Health and Medical Research) in Tours, the paediatric-respirology department of Timone Hospital in Marseilles (APHM) and Telemaq in Sophia Antipolis. The Tours INSERM (U618) is an internationally recognised team in the field of medicinal aerosols, their delivery methods and their characterisation.  Prof. Dubus' team at APHM is greatly involved in the promotion of new techniques for treating chronic pulmonary diseases. This department is the benchmark in paediatric-respirology in the PACA region. Of course, we also rely on support from the EUROBIOMED cluster in helping us to manage this wonderful project to its completion.

4 - What are the next developments or results?
The first results from the current clinical trials show that with this type of nebulizer, hospital care can be reduced to one or two days, which is very encouraging. The next clinical trial should look at the treatment of cystic fibrosis. Eventually, the issue of the system's industrial and commercial value will arise. An initial licence has been granted for a specific application (system).

1TELEMAQ, based in Sophia Antipolis, is a contract technology development company that offers a range of tools that can be used to innovate quickly and cost-effectively. The company offers to support innovative organisations as part of a technological leap, incremental innovation, technology transfer, quick market launch, shared risk co-development or involvement in a European project.

*ANR: French National Agency for Research

En savoir plus : www.telemaq.fr