The systemic availability of buprenorphine administered by nasal spray

The kinetics and systemic bioavailability of intranasally administered buprenorphine have been investigated in 9 healthy volunteers in an intranasal/intravenous cross-over study. Each subject received a nominal 0.3 mg dose of buprenorphine intranasally followed one week later by a matched dose intravenously. For the intranasal administration mean tmax and mean Cmax were 30.6 min and 1.77 ng mL-1, respectively. Mean intranasal bioavailability was 48.2 +/- 8.35% (mean +/- s.e.m.) of the intravenous value. Intranasal administration may represent a valuable new delivery route for buprenorphine.