The nose is the gateway to the respiratory system and plays a critical role in everyday health. In fact, the nasal mucosa filters the air we breathe as part of our respiratory system’s first-line defense against airborne viruses and bacteria. It’s also highly vascularized, enabling the rapid absorption of medications into circulation while avoiding degradation in the GI tract and the liver. The nose also serves as a direct route to the brain.

Due to these distinct advantages, the nose is quickly becoming an accepted route for prophylactics therapies to prevent respiratory infections, receiving much attention for vaccine delivery, and has the potential to enhance clinical benefits for many conventional oral and IV medications such as sedatives, hormones, analgesics, antihistamines, corticosteroids, and more.