Characterizing regional drug delivery within the nasal airways

Area of Science:

• Pharmacology
• Biomedical Engineering
• Drug Delivery

Background:

• The nose is increasingly recognized as a viable route for drug administration.
• Understanding regional drug deposition is critical for optimizing intranasal formulations and devices.
• Individual nasal geometry significantly impacts drug deposition variability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review recent literature on intranasal regional drug deposition.
• To correlate in vitro measurements with formulation and device performance.
• To highlight the importance of regional deposition for nose-to-brain delivery and intranasal vaccines.

Main Methods:

• Review of in vivo, in vitro, and in silico studies on intranasal drug deposition.
• Analysis of factors influencing deposition variability.
• Evaluation of predictive models for drug deposition.

Main Results:

• In vitro and in silico models are valuable alternatives to costly in vivo deposition studies.
• Predictive models for nasal deposition are still evolving due to anatomical variability.
• Idealized geometries can serve as useful surrogates for in vivo measurements.

Conclusions:

• Continued development of in vitro and in silico models is essential.
• Improved models can lead to less variable and more effective intranasal drug products.
• Accurate regional deposition characterization supports advancements in nose-to-brain drug delivery and intranasal vaccines.