Navigating the challenges in pediatric intranasal drug delivery

Pediatric intranasal (IN) drug delivery is a promising noninvasive way of administering medication, offering a significant improvement over parenteral and oral methods. However, its effectiveness is hindered by major technical challenges, primarily stemming from the wide anatomical variations among children and the difficulty in achieving consistent dosing. This expert opinion explores an integrated approach to overcome these obstacles.

This article summarizes the recent literature on technological strategies used to address challenges in pediatric drug delivery, focusing on studies published between January 2015 to December 2025, sourced from Google Scholar and PubMed. It discusses how advancements in formulation and device engineering are improving drug deposition and absorption. The article also highlights the relevance of regional deposition to two emerging applications: nose-to-brain drug delivery and intranasal vaccines, while also covering the challenges of the nasal mucus barrier and novel formulation strategies to overcome it.

The future of pediatric IN delivery lies in the coordinated advancement of multiple interdependent factors. By treating a child's unique anatomy and physiology as key design parameters, researchers can integrate physical and computational models to simultaneously optimize formulations, devices, and delivery techniques. This multifactorial strategy will lead to highly reliable and personalized therapies.