text: OptiNose Hopes to Revolutionize Nasal Drug Delivery With Its Novel Spray Devices | Medgadget OptiNose Hopes to Revolutionize Nasal Drug Delivery With Its Novel Spray Devices |
  While administering drugs nasally is nothing new, Yardley, PA based OptiNose US Inc. claims to have vastly improved this method of drug delivery. When using existing nasal drug delivery devices, a significant portion of any delivered drug does not reach mucous membranes in the patient's nasal cavity, and instead ends up in the throat. OptiNose's devices propel the drug into the nasal cavity with air blown from the patient's mouth, which closes the opening between the nose and throat and results in a greater portion of the dose reaching the target membranes.
  The device could provide a boost for any number of drugs that could be more effective or convenient entering the body by way of the nasal membranes. Vaccines are an example, Mahmoud said. Typically large, complex molecules, many vaccines are broken down and destroyed if they enter the body through the stomach. They must be injected intravenously. If vaccines can be safely and efficiently delivered by nasal spray, patients could vaccinate themselves, reducing costs and the medical waste that comes with using needles.