Inhale Therapeutic Systems, Inc. has been issued US patent 5,994,314 for dry powder formulations of DNA with viral or commonly used lipid vectors. Dry powder DNA formulations potentially could be used for gene therapy or vaccines.
Vectors are a means by which DNA is delivered to the target cell.
These excipients provide stability to the formulation and enable rapid dissolution, which may be important for enabling the gene to cross membranes and into cells. The patent is not limited to any specific type of delivery or method of manufacture. We believe that dry powder formulations could bring greater stability to the DNA material delivered to the target cell. It further strengthens our growing intellectual property portfolio covering technologies for delivering inhaleable drugs and on stability of macromolecule formulations for both inhaleable and other forms of delivery. Inhale, located in San Carlos, Calif., is developing delivery systems for inhaleable drugs, including peptides and proteins, for systemic and local lung indications.