Challenges for the Future!! Part 3 Begins!! I want to be kinder to people with asthma #01] ── The concept of an inhaler you don't have to inhale ―

It is said that there are an estimated 10 million asthma patients in Japan.
And that number continues to grow year by year.

For me, asthma is by no means someone else's problem.
My wife has suffered from asthma since she was young, and my mother-in-law has also lived with the same illness for a long time.
The sight of them breathing with difficulty in the middle of the night, the anxiety about attacks, and the tension of wondering "Will today be okay?" are realities that have blended into our daily lives.

Having watched that for so long, I have always been thinking.
"Is there any way for asthma patients to live more comfortably?"


◽️ Current asthma treatment and its prerequisites

Current asthma treatment is mainly supported by the following medications.
• Inhaled corticosteroids (ICS)
The core of treatment to suppress chronic airway inflammation. Few side effects, and long-term use is a prerequisite.
• ICS/LABA combination drugs
Suppresses inflammation while dilating the bronchi. Widely used for moderate cases and above.
• Rescue medication (reliever)
Provides immediate effect during an attack to ease breathing difficulties.

All of these are based on the premise of using a dedicated inhaler to inhale the medication.
What is even more important is that treatment must be continued even when there are no symptoms.

Asthma is "a disease where inflammation continues even if it looks like it has healed." It is a disease where you never know when an attack might occur.
That is why you must not stop inhaling on your own judgment.

This is correct in theory.
However... the reality is not that simple.


◽️ Overlooked challenges of inhalers

Current medication inhalation therapy has several "burdens on the patient."
• Oral candidiasis, hoarseness, and throat discomfort occur because medication remains in the oral cavity.
Gargling after inhalation is essential to suppress this.
However, there are many situations where this cannot be done immediately, such as when out or before going to bed.

• Anxiety about side effects from long-term, high-dose use
There are significant risks of developing lowered immunity, pneumonia, decreased bone density, cataracts, etc.

• Psychological burden when using an inhaler
Resistance to using an inhaler in front of others, concern about being watched by those around you

These are often considered "manageable" medically.
But in a patient's life, they are stresses that definitely accumulate.


◽️ The concept of "an inhaler you don't have to inhale"

That is when I arrived at one idea.
Instead of actively "making them inhale" the medicine,
could we not "naturally blend it into their breathing"?

And what I want to put into practical use is
a method of fixing liposomalized asthma medication to a mask and using a drug delivery system to reach the airways and lungs.
• Retain the medication inside the mask,
• release it gradually in the necessary amount according to the patient's breathing, and
• adjust the concentration, sustained-release amount, and sustained-release time of the medication according to symptoms and time of day.

With this medication inhalation mechanism, the medication will almost never remain directly in the oral cavity.
And the hassle of gargling will be reduced, and the psychological burden will also be smaller.

A treatment where even the consciousness of "being treated" fades away because it acts during unconscious breathing.
That is the new form of asthma treatment I am aiming for.


◽️ This is a dream, but not a fantasy

Of course, there are many issues to solve.
Drug design, safety, individual differences, positioning as a medical device—.

However, liposome technology and drug delivery systems already exist in real medicine.

This is by no means a fantasy or a pipe dream.
It is just "technologies that have not yet been combined."

Originally, the painful sight of my wife and mother-in-law who were close to me was the starting point of this idea, but...

And now, I seriously want to realize a future where everyone who is facing asthma in the same way can breathe a little more easily and with peace of mind.

To make that dream come true...

And, that I was kept alive by heaven...