The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has just approved the first electronic nebulizer for delivering the cystic fibrosis medication Pulmozyme. This nebulizer, the eRapid, was developed by PARI and cuts treatment times from six to eight minutes all the way down to two or three minutes. Not only does this improve the patient’s experience, a study has shown it also increases the patient’s adherence to their treatment program. In the study, it was found that ten to one children preferred the new eRapid nebulizer, as did twenty to one adults.

Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disorder that, among other things, harms the lungs and causes difficulty breathing. It affects about 30,000 people in the US alone and over 70,000 around the world. It primarily affects children because, in the past, treatments weren’t good enough to allow CF patients to reach adulthood. Now, the median life expectancy for CF patients is 37.5 years and it’s only expected to increase as treatments and delivery methods continue to improve.

The eRapid was previously only available in Europe where it was known as the eFlow Rapid. But now that it’s been FDA approved it can be sold to US patients. According to the president of PARI USA, Geoff A. Hunziker, “PARI was motivated to introduce eRapid to the US market based on encouragement from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and their input to have a general use electronic nebulizer that could improve therapy adherence.”