UVA Student Founder Raises Capital to Advance Wearable Rescue Inhaler Inspired by Asthma Experience

Charlottesville, VA — Métopi, a University of Virginia-founded medical device company, is advancing two patient-centered drug delivery programs designed to make time-sensitive medications easier to access and use. The company is also preparing a $1.25 million institutional financing round to support continued development of both programs toward clinical development.

The company was founded by Miles Lanham, a rising 4th-year biomedical engineering student at the University of Virginia and an asthmatic himself. The idea behind Métopi began after Lanham witnessed a track and field teammate experience an asthma attack without immediate access to a rescue inhaler. For Lanham, the moment highlighted a common challenge for people with asthma: rescue medication can be effective, but only if it is available at the time symptoms begin.

“We know the medication works, but that does not matter if the device is not with you when you need it,” Lanham said.

That experience helped inspire the development of Métopi’s product, the Portahaler, a compact, wearable rescue inhaler platform designed to make emergency asthma medication easier to carry in daily life. The technology is being developed to allow patients to keep rescue therapy accessible through a smaller form factor and wearable or everyday carry formats, such as a wristband, keychain, or phone attachments.

Métopi’s respiratory program is also being developed with the long-term goal of supporting next-generation combination therapy, aligning with evolving asthma treatment guidelines and efforts to improve patient outcomes. The company’s asthma program remains in development and has not been cleared or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Métopi is currently advancing product development, prototype work, and planning for future studies.

In addition to its rescue inhaler program, Métopi is also developing a pulmonary migraine therapy platform. The company aims to use the lungs as a route of delivery for migraine medication, with the goal of creating an alternative approach that may offer faster onset, longer-lasting relief, and fewer side effects compared with existing treatment routes. This program also remains preclinical and in development.

Since launching as a student-founded company, Métopi has raised nearly $250,000 in non-dilutive funding through grants, competitions, and university-supported programs. The company has also built a team and advisory network with experience across emergency-use medical devices, inhalation products, life sciences commercialization, medical device exits, inhaler-related exits to Sandoz, and more than $180 million raised across the life sciences sector.

The new $1.25 million financing round is intended to support continued development of both product programs, including engineering, regulatory planning, preclinical work, and preparation for future clinical studies.

Métopi’s broader goal is to develop drug delivery products that better fit into patients’ everyday lives, especially in conditions where timely access to therapy can be important. As the company continues development, it plans to work with patients, clinicians, advisors, and potential partners to further evaluate patient needs and advance its technology toward clinical testing.