Credit card sized inhaler

An inhaler as thin as a credit card

A 22-year-old student has invented an asthma inhaler which is small enough to fit into a wallet or purse.
Mild asthma sufferer Adam Bates, from Witney, Oxfordshire, created the 6mm- thick Thinhaler as an alternative to the inhalers most sufferers carry. "I wanted the inhaler to fit in with the lifestyle of someone who has asthma," said the design student. The inhaler is the same shape as a credit card and contains between 50 and 100 doses of dry powder medication. The final year student at Brunel University said: "A friend of mine told me how when she went to the pub or to clubs she didn't want to take her inhaler. "She always had a credit card with her, though, so I thought if I built an inhaler as small as that she could fit it in her pocket or purse."

Bates says the Thinhaler will not be any more expensive than those already on the market, and could cost as little as £2-3. It uses dry-powder medication, which is used by some inhalers currently on the market, and lasts for 50 to 100 doses. Most inhalers on the market can be used for 100 to 200 doses but Bates says he has had feedback that the smaller doses of the Thinhaler are outweighed by its other benefits. The Thinhaler concept won a prestigious D&AD Yellow Pencil Student Award last year.

About 5.1 million people in the UK have asthma, which equates to about one in 13 adults. There are four types of commonly-used inhaler at present: the metered dose device, turbohaler, spacer, and accuhaler.