ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 29 -- Mannkind, Valencia, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,424,518) developed by eight co-inventors for a "dry powder inhaler and system for drug delivery." The co-inventors are Chad C. Smutney, Watertown, Conn., P. Spencer Kinsey, Sandy Hook, Conn., Carl R. Sahi, Coventry, Conn., Benoit Adamo, Mount Kisco, N.Y., John M. Polidoro, Conventry, Conn., Scott McLean, Waterbury, Conn., Dennis Overfield, Fairfield, Conn., and Anthony Bryant, Stratford, Conn.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A breath-powered, dry powder inhaler, a cartridge, and a pulmonary drug delivery system are provided. The dry powder inhaler can be provided with or without a unit dose cartridge for using with the inhaler. The inhaler and/or cartridge can be provided with a drug delivery formulation comprising, for example, a diketopiperazine and an active ingredient, including, peptides and proteins such as insulin and glucagon-like peptide 1 for the treatment of diabetes and/or obesity. The dry powder inhaler is compact; can be provided in various shapes and sizes, colors, and comprises a housing, a mouthpiece, a cartridge placement area, and a mechanism for opening and closing the medicament cartridge. The device is easy to manufacture, provides a pre-metered single unit dose, it is relatively easy to use, and can be reusable or disposable."

The patent application was filed on June 12, 2009 (12/484,137). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=84,24,518.PN.&OS=PN/84,24,518&RS=PN/84,24,518

Written by Amal Ahmed; edited by Jaya Anand.

http://www.equities.com/news/healthcare/2013-04-29/1337004/us-patents-awarded-to-inventors-in-new-york-april.story