All self-respecting painkillers these days offer "fast-acting relief," a promise we accept to mean anywhere from 15 minutes to more than an hour.
For Alexza Pharmaceuticals Inc., which is developing drugs for migraine, pain, panic and agitation, "fast" has to mean "within seconds."
The Palo Alto, California-based company is developing drugs that can be "smoked," and, like nicotine in cigarettes, pass through the lungs and into the bloodstream almost instantly.
The company's lead product is a vaporized version of an old drug called prochlorperazine, which Alexza is developing for migraine headaches but is currently used in liquid, oral or suppository form to treat severe nausea. While it is sometimes given intravenously in hospitals to treat patients with acute migraines, the drug is inconvenient to deliver.
Alexza is hoping to provide similar results but in such a way that patients can carry the delivery device -- an inhaler that looks like a miniature hip flask -- in a pocketbook or the glove compartment of a car.
The device contains a battery-powered package that heats a thin coating of drug to create a vapor that can be sucked into the lungs.
Link & Image: Yahoo! News
Tags: Drugs | Smokable | Alexza
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