Understanding the Lung Clearance Kinetics and Disposition of Inhaled Biodegradable Nanomedicines

Inhalable nanomedicines based on biodegradable lipid- or polymer-based nanomaterial drug carriers are rapidly being advanced through preclinical and clinical trials. Despite this, there is still a fundamental lack of understanding about how biodegradable or erodible nanoparticles and polymeric drug carriers are cleared from healthy and diseased lungs. This thesis comprehensively evaluates the pharmacokinetic behavior, patterns of lung clearance and immunological responses of the lungs to inhaled biodegradable nanoparticles that have been extensively explored pre-clinically as inhalable nanomedicines. This thesis also describes and compares the biopharmaceutical behaviour of inhaled nanomedicines in healthy and diseased lungs.