History
Before the invention of the MDI asthma medication was delivered using a squeeze bulb nebulizer which was fragile and unreliable. The relatively crude nature of these devices also meant that the particles that they generated were relatively large, too large for effective drug delivery to the lungs. Nonetheless these nebulisers paved the way for inhaltion drug delivery providing the inspiration for the MDI.
MDI's were first developed in 1955 by Riker Laboratories, now a subsidiary of 3M Healthcare. At that time MDI's represented a convergence of two relatively new technologies, the CFC propellant and the Meshburg metering valve which was originally designed for dispensing perfume. The initial design by Riker used a glass canister coated with a vinyl plastic to improve its resilience. By 1956 Riker had developed two MDI based products, the Medihaler-Ept containing epinephrin and the Medihaler-Iso containing Isoprenaline. Both products are agonists which provide short term relief from asthma symptoms and have now largely been replaced in asthma treatment by salbutamol which is more selective.
Read more about this topic: Metered-dose Inhaler
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