Tag Archives: Aptar Pharma

Dr. Gerallt Williams, Director Scientific Affairs, Aptar Pharma

Dr. Gerallt WilliamsAfter obtaining his Ph.D. from the University of Wales, UK in 1985, Gerallt has held various industrial positions at Monsanto Inc. (UK), Fisons Ltd (UK), Valois (France) and Inhale/Nektar Therapeutics (USA).

Gerallt is now in charge of scientific affairs for the Aptar Pharma Prescription division, Le Vaudreuil, France and is engaged in the development of new devices for nasal, inhaled and injectable drug products.

What made you partner with Business Review Webinars?

Aptar Pharma wanted to reach out to a more global audience in order to share our enthusiasm about intra-nasal drug delivery which is a relatively new drug delivery approach and creating a webinar in partnership with BRW offered us the possibility to achieve this goal.

What do you enjoy the most about your role?

Developing new products that will hopefully bring some relief to patients suffering with difficult medical conditions is ultimately what we are trying to do day in and day out in our roles in the drug delivery industry – the enjoyment is in the journey.

What is your favourite place in the world and why?

I’m Welsh and I’ve been living in various countries during my career including Wales where I was born and grew up, England, the US and France. I feel well in France because I can enjoy a variety of unique experiences … while being so close to the UK!

What about nasal drug delivery are you most looking forward to sharing with the audience?

Although nasal drug delivery is somewhat of a niche area in the pharmaceutical industry we hope to share with the audience the future potential of this drug delivery approach, how ground-breaking and innovative research is being pursued with the possibility to open up a brand new way to treat some very serious and debilitating conditions which are predicted to become more prevalent over the coming decades.  Intranasal route is simple to access and non-invasive, it can be versatile (self-administration vs third-party’s-administration) and used for local and systemic/CNS nose-to-brain treatments – “The nose is the only natural corridor where the brain meets the outside world”.

What do you hope the audience will learn from this webinar?

The webinar is part educational, part setting the scene in the market place and part science and technology. Hopefully the audience will find some new information by participating in the webinar and may be able to identify opportunities for developing products for some of the unmet medical needs in this area via the nasal drug delivery approach.

Join Dr. Williams in the upcoming Aptar Pharma webinar: The Nasal Drug Delivery Journey: from Systemic to Nose-to-Brain? Register Now!

Gaining an Insight into the Nasal Drug Delivery Journey, from Systemic to Nose-to-Brain

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At Aptar Pharma and Next Breath, one of our primary focuses is Nasal Drug Delivery, from Systemic to Nose-to-Brain.

What is the Nasal Drug Delivery journey?

Nasal Drug Delivery is a route of administration in which drugs are delivered through the nasal cavity.

It can be used for either topical or systemic administration. The effects of drugs thereby delivered can be either strictly local or systemic.

aptar 2Topical nasal sprays deliver locally-acting drugs, such as decongestants for cold and allergy treatment, whose systemic effects are  minimal. For example, active drugs that act systemically in the form of nasal sprays are used in migrainenicotine replacement and hormonal therapies

The Nasal Route provides a major opportunity for non-invasive delivery of compounds to treat Central Nervous System (CNS) diseases via the systemic circulation and/or by mechanisms that cross directly into the brain via the nasal cavity. Direct transport of drugs into the brain or CNS via the nasal cavity can avoid the blood brain barrier which is known to block the vast majority of drugs entering the brain or CNS from the systemic circulation.

An overview of the intra-nasal systemic drug delivery market

In 2015, the global intra-nasal spray systemic drug market was estimated at over $2 billion and has experienced strong growth in the last few years. Many therapies are successfully delivered via the nasal route and continue to increase in the traditional areas of migraines, osteoporosis and endometriosis, as well as post-operative pain (ketorolac), cancer pain (fentanyl), prostate cancer, urinary incontinence, anemia and vaccinations.

By working closely with leading and international pharma companies, Aptar Pharma devices deliver the latest systemic drug products, including Adapt Pharma’s Narcan, which contains naloxone for the treatment of opioid overdose.

 

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Narcan – Courtesy of Adapt Pharma

 

Aptar Pharma and Next Breath scientific webinar to discuss the Nasal Drug Delivery journey

On September 8, 2016, Julie Suman, Pierre Carlotti and Gerallt Williams, our experts at Aptar Pharma and Next Breath

will present a scientific webinar on the Nasal Drug Delivery journey – from Systemic to Nose-to-Brain.

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By 2030, one billion people worldwide will be over the age of 65 compared to 600 million today. Healthcare must adjust to these changing demographics.

In addition, the world is facing multiple unmet medical needs while healthcare costs are rising globally. As a consequence, several changes need to be made: new therapeutic options, shorter in-patient hospital stays, increased outpatient care and more self-administration of drugs. 

Our complimentary webinar will discuss the following topics:

  • The CNS drug market’s unmet medical needs
  • The role of nasal drug delivery devices in treating CNS diseases by the systemic route, as well as looking into the nose-to-brain route in order to meet these unmet medical needs
  • The comparative technical merits of nasal drug delivery devices
  • The future perspectives of CNS diseases treated via the nasal pathway

Please join our webinar by clicking here.

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From your perspective, what do you think about the nasal drug delivery journey? Do you have any suggestions or topics that you wish to learn about at this scientific webinar?

Please feel free to share your input in the comments column below and/or liaise directly with Gerallt Williams, our Scientific Affairs Director, at: [email protected]

 In the meantime, please check out our scientific roundtable whitepaper on the Blood Brain Barrier

 

*Most of the pictures and illustrations are courtesy of Aptar Pharma, except for Narcan, which is courtesy of Adapt Pharma.