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In this “letter to students,” the author sees exciting opportunities ahead for young scientists willing to take on the challenges in inhalation therapy research and development. Point of View: Recommendations to a young scientist to pursue inhalation research In this "letter to students," the author sees exciting opportunities ahead for young scientists willing to take on the challenges in inhalation therapy research and development. Igor Gonda, PhD Respidex, LLC question is "How can we contribute to improving the lives of patients?" I am convinced there is much to be done in OINDP research and development, to give patients better tools to manage their health and to meet unmet needs in preventing and treating some very severe conditions. Treating additional diseases There are multiple respirator y infections that require better treatment. ese include tuberculosis, with its multi-drug resistance complications; non-tuberculous mycobacteria, which in the United States is now a bigger problem than tuberculosis; 1, 2 Pseudomonas aeruginosa related to cystic fibrosis; and fungal infections for which current treatments are unsatisfactory. Many severe chronic respiratory diseases, such as emphysema, non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis have largely unmet therapeutic needs because exist- ing therapies have modest efficacy coupled with severe side effects. Discovering and developing bet- ter dr ugs using devices and formulations tai- lor-made for these populations can be a very reward- ing journey. However, it is not for the faint-hearted, as it may take multiple attempts over a long period of time to move from generation of a product con- cept to a marketed product. However, rather than looking for new molecules, which could have inherent risks of failure (such as safety issues or other developmental challenges), it may be possible to repurpose drugs already approved Many years ago, as a young faculty member, I was sitting at a postgraduate course dinner across the table from the guest of honor, a very famous phar- macy professor who asked me, "What do you do for living, young man?" When I responded that I taught pharmacy (which at the time occupied most of my time, as I was busy preparing lectures and exam ques- tions), he clarified that he was asking me about my research. I replied, "Inhalation aerosols." His reac- tion should have been expected—his fame and for- tune came from oral dosage forms—and he advised me to "Do tablets!" instead of wasting my time on a "totally irrelevant dosage form." I am glad that I did not listen to his advice! Indeed, many of his younger colleagues who were skilled powder technologists realized later that there were many unexplored areas in properties of powders for inhalation products and much room for improve- ment, coupled with the move to replace CFC-pro- pellant inhalers with alternative delivery systems. In contrast, the state-of-the-art in oral dosage forms was already well-developed and there was less scope in which to make additional, far-reaching advances. Now I am asking myself: What advice would I give to a young inhalation scientist today? Have we reached the stage of development in the oral inhalation and nasal delivery (OINDP) area where we will be gener- ating small incremental improvements, instead of making the enormous leaps that have resulted in the treatment of many respiratory diseases being domi- nated by inhalation products—notably asthma, COPD and cystic fibrosis? Of course, the ultimate Inhalation February 2019 17