Nebu-Flow

Nebu-Flow is a University of Glasgow spin-out developing the next generation of nebuliser technology to enable inhalation delivery of life-changing drugs that current devices cannot administer. The company was founded in 2019 by Dr. Elijah Nazarzadeh and Professor Jonathan Cooper, emerging from research in the James Watt School of Engineering. Respiratory disorders — including asthma, COPD, and cystic fibrosis — are the leading cause of death and disability worldwide, with a global societal cost of approximately €400 billion annually. Yet the nebulisers available to treat them are limited in their ability to nebulise modern drugs, particularly biologics, nanomedicines, and RNA-based formulations that represent the next generation of respiratory medicine.

Nebu-Flow's patented technology uses surface acoustic wave (SAW) physics to precisely control the size of aerosol droplets generated from a liquid drug formulation, achieving the clinically optimal 1–5 micrometre range with a consistency and efficiency that conventional ultrasonic or jet nebulisers cannot match. This superior control enables up to 60% more drug to reach the deep lung compared to existing devices, reducing treatment times, improving efficacy, and enabling drug classes — including fragile biologics and mRNA — that have no current inhalation delivery route. The platform is designed to be low-cost and manufacturable at scale, consistent with Nebu-Flow's goal of improving patient access.

Nebu-Flow has won the Institute of Physics Business Start-Up Award, received a £1 million Innovate UK grant, and was selected for Phase 2 of NATO DIANA's accelerator programme. In 2024 the company secured £4.7 million in additional investment led by SCVC, with support from Scottish Enterprise, Foresight WAE Technology, SIS Ventures, Ascension, and Conduit EIS Impact Fund, to fund product development and commercialisation. The company is targeting both the $1 billion-plus nebuliser market and the broader $33 billion global inhalable drug market.