High capacity diketopiperazine microparticles and methods

1. An inhalable dry powder comprising diketopiperazine microparticles and a drug or an active agent; wherein each of the diketopiperazine microparticles comprises:

a plurality of structural domains, each structural domain comprising a nucleus surrounded by layers of a porous crystalline material,

said diketopiperazine microparticles have a mass-weighted average particle size of about 33.000 to about 216,000 voxels measured by X-ray tomography for particle size measuring about 0.5 μm to about 4 μm in geometric diameter, and

wherein said diketopiperazine microparticles have a specific surface area of about 72 m 2 /g to about 94 m 2 /g.

2. An inhalable dry powder of claim 1 , wherein said diketopiperazine is fumaryl diketopiperazine (3,6-bis(N-fumaryl-4-aminobutyl)-2,5-diketopiperazine; or salt thereof.

3. An inhalable dry powder of claim 1 , wherein the diketopiperazine microparticles comprise structural domains ranging in number-weighted size from about 250 voxels to about 1,400 voxels.

4. An inhalable dry powder of claim 1 , wherein the diketopiperazine microparticles comprise structural domains ranging in voxel-weighted size from about 500 voxels to about 2,000 voxels.

5. An inhalable dry powder of claim 1 , wherein the diketopiperazine microparticles have a specific surface area greater than 70 m2/g.

6. An inhalable dry powder of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of structural domains have an average size from about 300 nm to about 450 nm as measured by radius of gyration.

7. An inhalable dry powder of claim 1 , wherein the drug or active agent is a protein, polypeptide, peptide, nucleic acid, organic macromolecule, synthetic organic compound, polysaccharide or other sugar, fatty acid, and lipid, and antibody or combinations thereof.

8. An inhalable dry powder of claim 1 , wherein the drug or active agent is a vasoactive agent, neuroactive agent, hormone, anticoagulant, immunomodulating agent, cytotoxic agent, antibiotic, antiviral agent, antigen, infectious agent, inflammatory mediator, hormone, cell surface antigen, cytokine, lipokine, enkephalin, alkyne, cyclosporin, anti-IL-8 antibodie, IL-8 antagonist including ABX-IL-8; prostaglandin including PG-12, LTB receptor blocker including LY29311, BIIL 284 and CP105696, triptan such as sumatriptan and palmitoleate, insulin and analogs thereof, growth hormone and analogs thereof, parathyroid hormone (PTH) and analogs thereof, parathyroid hormone related peptide (PTHrP), oxytocin, leuprolide, interferon-alpha, RGD peptide, DDAVP peptide, GHR peptide, detirelex human growth hormone, albumin, cyclosporine, ghrelin, obestatin, enterostatin, granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), granulocyte colony stimulating factor (GCSF), amylin, amylin analogs, glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), clopidogrel, PPACK (Dphenylalanyl-L-prolyl-L-arginine chloromethyl ketone), oxyntomodulin (OXM), peptide YY(3-36) (PYY), adiponectin, cholecystokinin (CCK), secretin, gastrin, glucagon, motilin, somatostatin, brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), IGF-1, growth hormone releasing factor (GHRF), integrin beta-4 precursor (ITB4) receptor antagonist, nociceptin, nocistatin, orphanin FQ2, calcitonin, CGRP, angiotensin, substance P, neurokinin A, pancreatic polypeptide, neuropeptide Y, delta-sleep-inducing peptide or vasoactive intestinal peptide.

9. An inhalable dry powder of claim 1 , wherein the drug or active agent is a neurotransmitter agonist, a neurotransmitter antagonist, a pain inhibitory agent, a vaccine, an anti-inflammatory agent, an anti-cancer agent, a cell receptor agonist molecule, a cell receptor antagonist molecule, an immunosuppressant, a statin, or an anti-infective agent.

10. An inhalable dry powder of claim 1 , further comprising a surfactant.

11. An inhalable dry powder of claim 10 , wherein the surfactant is polysorbate 80.

12. An inhalable dry powder of claim 1 , wherein the dry powder is delivered to a patient in a single inhalation to the deep lung using a dry powder inhaler.