Team 3
PHARMACOLOGY OF INHALED PHARMACEUTICALS
Team leader : Nathalie HEUZE-VOURC'H
Scientific goals
Research areas
Characterize devices, drugs & devices for inhalation delivery
Establish novel experimental models/ methods for inhalation to help translation into the clinics
Establish biological collections to investigate barriers to inhalation
Operate clinical trials with novel inhalation modalities/ inhaled drugs
Members
Team leaders
Nathalie HEUZE-VOURC'H
Laurent PLANTIER
Specific expertises
Nasal cast models
Aerosol metrology
ALI culture
PK/PD Studies
Physico-chemistry of proteins
Deposition Studies
Clinical Studies
Key events
Team 3 participated with the H202O FAIR consortium in the organization of the ERS Virtual School: Nebulisation of drugs for treatment of respiratory infections and disease (25 February 2025)
Team 3 organized the SFI Antibodies Club webinar: «Passive protection at mucosal surface»
NEW ARTICLE:
A breath of fresh air: inhaled antibodies to combat respiratory infectious diseases - a clinical trial overview. Alphonse N, Sécher T, Heuzé-Vourc'h N. Expert Opin Drug Deliv. 2025 Feb;22(2):197-218. doi: 10.1080/17425247.2024.2446608.
Team's work was highlighted during the “French Phage Network” annual conference—eighth meeting report.
Microlife. 2025 Jan 31;6:uqaf001. doi: 10.1093/femsml/uqaf001
Start of the BarrIg clinical trial (funded by CSL Behring) to study the impact of biological barriers on IgG-pathogen interactions at the mucosal surface in patients suffering from bronchiectasis (in collaboration with the Pneumology Department of the CHRU de Tours and CIC 1415, Tours).
Start of 2 CIFRE theses :
- Gabrielle Pichon CEPR/Affilogic, Nantes (co-direction: Nathalie Heuzé-Vourc'h & Mathieu Cinier (Affilogic))
- Valentine Chéron CEPR/4P-Pharma, Lille (co-direction: Virginie Hervé & Stephan Ehrmann)
NEW ARTICLES:
Characterization of anatomical variations of the nasal cavity in a subset of European patients and their impact on intranasal drug delivery. Pasteur M, Arsouze G , Ilango G, Le Pennec D, Kulker D, Heyraud A, Cottier JP, Aussedat C, Heuzé-Vourc'h N, Hervé V, Le Guellec S Int J Pharm. 2024 Dec 25;667(Pt A):124851. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2024.124851.
The proteolytic airway environment associated with pneumonia acts as a barrier for treatment with anti-infective antibodies. Blin T, Parent C, Pichon G, Guillon A, Jouan Y, Allouchi H, Aubrey N, Boursin F, Domain R, Korkmaz B, Sécher T, Heuzé-Vourc'h N. Eur J Pharm Biopharm. 2024 Feb;195:114163. doi: 10.1016/j.ejpb.2023.12.003
Noémie Alphonse was awarded postodoctoral fellowship by EMBO
Team 3 published the results of the multicentric AMIKINHAL trial on inhaled amikacin to prevent Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia (doi: 10.1056/NEJMc2400427)
Team 3 participates to the PEPR Biotherapies and Bioproduction of innovative therapies (ACCREDIA and RNAVAC) to improve the development process of mucosally-administered antibodies and RNA vaccines
Dr. Nathalie Heuzé-Vourc’h was nominated deputy-director of the Health Technologie Institute of Inserm
Dr. Thomas Sécher participates in the steering committee of the « Antibody club » (French Society of Immunology).
Since 2022, Team 3 participates to the Organoid GDR
Team 3 joined the European “VIB Grand Challenge program” to develop inhaled antibodies against viral respiratory pathogens
Pr. Stephan Ehrmann has established guidelines on how to deliver aerosol therapy during the COVID-19 pandemic, for optimal therapeutic aerosol delivery while preventing bioaerosol dispersion
(doi:10.1183/13993003.00892-2020)
Team 3 joined the European H2020 “FAIR” consortium (2020-2025) to develop inhaled flagellin as an alternative adjunct strategy to standard of care antibiotics for treating pneumonia caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Pr. Stephan Ehrmann is a member of AFNOR's "Nebulizing Systems and Components" commission
Development of a new experimental model for metrology: the Aeronose® model is an anatomical model of human nasal cavities predictive of nasal deposition (doi: 10.1007/s11095-013-1157-6)
Fundings & partnerships
Fundings
Scientific environment
Partners
France
Europe
USA
Communicate and disseminate the scientific knowledge and advances toward various audiences
Support the industrial actors for the development of new inhaled pharmaceuticals/inhalation technologies
Participate in the regulatory assessment and guideline establishment for the use of inhalation medicines/products
Accelerate the development of inhaled medicines/products and innovative inhalers
Foster the transfer of inhaled pharmaceuticals/inhalation technologies into the clinics
Extend the use of inhalation to biotherapeutics (RNA vaccines, therapeutic antibodies…) and innovative pharmaceuticals
Communicate and disseminate the scientific knowledge and advances toward various audiences
Support the industrial actors for the development of new inhaled pharmaceuticals/inhalation technologies
Participate in the regulatory assessment and guideline establishment for the use of inhalation medicines/products
Accelerate the development of inhaled medicines/products and innovative inhalers
Foster the transfer of inhaled pharmaceuticals/inhalation technologies into the clinics
Extend the use of inhalation to biotherapeutics (RNA vaccines, therapeutic antibodies…) and innovative pharmaceuticals