Quattrii Delivers Biologics and mRNA Molecules in Single Inhalation

Communication between the manufacturing plant and retail stores. | Image Credit: © Cagkan - © Cagkan - stock.adobe.com

On June 24, 2025, Cambridge Healthcare Innovations (CHI), a start-up developing inhaler technology, announced that its dry powder inhaler (DPI) engine, Quattrii, is the first of its kind to deliver large volumes of biologic molecules and messenger RNA in a single inhalation (1). The DPI will be available for use by pharmaceutical companies in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Designed to deliver medicines to treat diseases that impact the lungs and airways and systemic conditions for which delivery to the lung may be preferable, Quattrii delivers at least 70% of the drug in one inhalation, according to CHI (1). In comparison, existing inhalers usually deliver between 10% and 50% of a drug to the lung. The drug is typically a small fraction of the formulation in DPIs, with the rest of the ingredients including things like lactose to make the drug easy to handle and fill. However, according to CHI, the extra powder may land in the patient’s mouth and throat, which may be unpleasant.

Quattrii separates the active ingredient from the lactose and retains the lactose fraction within the blister, resulting is less total powder inhaled by the patient and more active ingredient delivered to the lungs in one inhalation (1). The DPI engine supports payloads of between 30 mg and 100 mg and is designed around blister primary packaging, which may benefit biologics sensitive to moisture.

“Huge potential”

According to CHI, this unique design allows the DPI to be used to deliver novel lung cancer therapies (1). “CHI’s DPI engine would enable patients who are eligible to inhale their treatment directly to the lungs. The benefit of this inhalation technology—in place of traditional intravenous chemotherapy and/or immunotherapy—is the reduced amount the patient must receive to get the required therapeutic effect, and the avoidance of typical side effects such as hair loss and nausea. This also means that patients can receive their dose within a few seconds, rather than over several hours,” the company stated in a press release (1). The consistency of the delivered dose is typically achieved at a level that exceeds current regulatory requirements of +/- 25% of label claim. Therefore, novel therapies may have a better chance of passing a clinical trial.

“There is considerable worldwide research effort going into novel inhalable biologics and other large molecules; however, existing inhaler technology is just not designed to meet the challenges of delivering these potential blockbuster drugs to patients,” Jenny Lam, associate professor of Pharmaceutics at UCL and inhaled biologics expert, said in the press release (1). “CHI’s Quattrii DPI is truly unique and offers huge potential for those developing a wide range of drugs that can save the lives of millions of people.”

“The respiratory delivery route offers so many advantages for the patient,” Omar Usmani, professor of Respiratory Medicine and clinical director of Respiratory Trials at Imperial College Respiratory Research Unit, said in the release (1). “Some of the new low-potency molecules under development will require inhaler technology that is more precise, more effective, and capable of delivering higher doses. I’m excited by CHI’s Quattrii inhaler platform as it addresses these issues and helps to open up the future of respiratory medicine.”

“Respirable drugs offer so much potential, but for too long the lack of innovation in inhaler technology has been a hugely limiting factor,” CEO and Founder of CHI, David Harris, said in the release. “They are either not capable of offering sufficient moisture protection, or of delivering the amount of drug a patient needs in one go, regardless of the vast range of lung and inhalation capacities. There is a better way—and by creating an inhaler from the ground up, that is designed to make the best use of the patient’s inhalation energy, we have been able to achieve something that is easier to use and provides much greater efficiency.”

Commercializing agreement with Aptar Pharma

In November 2024, CHI entered into an agreement with Aptar Pharma to commercialize the Quattrii DPI platform (2). As part of the agreement, Aptar will provide support and serve as a primary point of contact for customers.

“The CHI team brings deep knowledge, experience and innovation to the dry powder inhaler landscape,” Howard Burnett, vice president, Global Pulmonary Category, Aptar Pharma, stated in the November press release (2). “Aptar Pharma is very pleased to offer the Quattrii technology in partnership with CHI’s expertise. This enables us to provide full support from our portfolio of services to all drug developers, from formulation development to patient onboarding.”

References

1. Cambridge Healthcare Innovations. First of Its Kind Inhaler for Conditions Beyond Asthma and COPD to Reshape Respiratory Drug Delivery. Press Release. June 24, 2025.
2. Aptar Pharma. Aptar Pharma Enters into Exclusive Agreement with Cambridge Healthcare Innovations to Commercialize the Quattrii Dry Powder Inhaler Platform. Press Release. Nov. 7, 2024.