As I’m using my asthma inhaler this morning, I realize, why don’t we use inhalation for other medications?
Obviously wouldn’t be needed for everything, but things that need to act fast I feel like it would be effective.
The alveoli in your lungs are a direct connection to your blood supply, and seem pretty effective for the nicotine while smoking.
I’ve even seen it a few times in fiction like Dread or Cyberpunk.
So why not?
In: Biology
Interesting thought experiment, and I think your line of thinking is valid. I’m going to approach it a different way. In the past, there were very few methods of administering drugs. Most were eaten, if somebody could not eat, they could give it rectally (like enemas). For the few medications that were volatile, they could administer it through inhalation (like chloroform, which essentially was used as anaesthesia). The invention of IV greatly improved things because now you can give a lot of medication, have it work very quickly, and have it work even if someone is unconscious or has difficulty breathing. Inhalation only really addresses the 2nd of those 3 because the lungs don’t absorb a lot of medications and inhaling the medication usually requires conscious effort and technique.
This is a bit of conjecture, but it is possible that the lungs will not like to absorb so many of these “large” (relative to gas like O2 and CO2) molecules. I haven’t looked at the literature on excessive overuse of inhaled medications and the potential damage to the membranes it could cause, but that’s something that could be an issue if a lot of medications go that route.
Nowadays, we still have other inhaled medications apart from asthma drugs such as inhaled anaesthesia drugs like sevoflurane. But a lot of these inhaled medications used in high volumes are also bad for the environment. Some anaesthetists are proposing moving to only using IV medications.
Furthermore, inhaled medications aren’t perfect. Inhalers are very technique dependent and can be very difficult to learn for some. Gas that isn’t absorbed immediately can be exhaled or leaked into the surrounding environment. If done in a closed room to a large enough extent (like in some operating theatres), everybody in the room ends up absorbing some of the medication. Not good if you have people allergic to medications potentially getting exposed.
Finally, of course, there is cost and business. You don’t just develop the medication, but also the delivery system. Or at least have to manufacture it. Storage of the medication and shelf life will also likely be reduced compared to individually sealed pills so the supply chain is impacted.
Latest Answers