Aerogen today touted results from a study showing a 32% reduction in hospital admissions when patients were treated using its Solo vibrating mesh aerosol drug delivery system, compared to a small-volume nebulizer.

The Chicago-based company’s vibrating mesh is used to treat respiratory disorders such as COPD, asthma, or influenza, all of which are exacerbated in the winter season. The study’s results were presented at the American Assn. of Respiratory Care in San Antonio and the American College of Emergency Physicians in Las Vegas.

The company enrolled 1,576 patients from an urban emergency department and monitored them over 2 sequential 30-day periods. Researchers administered bronchodilator medicine with either the Solo vibrating mesh or a small-volume nebulizer to compare the 2 drug delivery systems. They observed that when the treatment was administered with Aerogen’s mesh, it was associated with 32% fewer admissions to the hospital and a 75% reduction in the amount of medication administered. It also reduced the median length of a patient’s stay in the emergency department by 37 minutes.

“This large clinical study demonstrates the impact Aerogen technology can have in the emergency department and is further evidence of the outstanding clinical results we’ve seen when Aerogen technology is used in critical medical units all over the world,” managing director & CEO John Power said in prepared remarks. “When patients feel better and can go home faster, without an extended hospital stay, it benefits everyone. This is truly great news for patients, clinicians and hospital administrators alike.”

“Reducing a patient’s need to be admitted means a couple of things,” added principal investigator and study co-author Dr. Robert Dunne. “First, it means that patient feels a lot better and is ready to go home, which is great for the patient, but second, it also means one less person who may be waiting for a bed and spending some time in the hospital.”