Absorption enhancing excipients in systemic nasal drug

Intranasal drug delivery is becoming an increasingly important form of drug administration for chronic and chronic-intermittent diseases. Important new applications currently in development include drugs for diabetes, osteoporosis, obesity, certain types of convulsive disorders, migraine headaches, symptomatic pain relief, nausea, and anxiety, among others. Transmucosal absorption across the nasal mucosa is generally limited to molecules less than 1,000 Da. Systemic delivery of larger molecules requires formulations with a suitable transmucosal absorption enhancer. More than one hundred potential transmucosal absorption enhancing excipients have been tested to date. Nearly all have failed due to poor effectiveness or unacceptable toxicity to the mucosal tissue. Alkylsaccharides, cyclodextrins, and chitosans have emerged as leading candidates for potential broad clinical applications allowing the development of convenient, patient-friendly, needle free formulations of small molecule drugs, as well as, peptide and protein drugs that can be administered at home, at work, or in other public and private settings outside of the doctor’s office or hospital environment.