Under the code name VPY, Valois' French and Swiss have designed a closed pump system that enables a medicinal formulation to be completely isolated from the ambient air. This means that it can be protected from bacteriological contamination without the need to use chemical preservatives, which can irritate the patient's nasal mucous membranes.
While still a niche market limited mainly to the delivery of locally acting drugs for allergies and colds, nasal sprays are attracting growing interest as a suitable route to administer drugs that act systemically in the body.
Nasal spray formulations account for around 2 per cent of all medicine sales, but new products for diseases such as migraine and osteoporosis are being introduced and are expected to grow this share. Moreover, products making use of the intranasal route's rapid delivery into the central nervous system (CNS) in applications such as Parkinson's disease, as well as new vaccines and candidates for obesity, could contribute to this trend.
One issue that has held back nasal deliver is that the mucosal irritation caused by preservatives can cause not only discomfort for the patient and reduce compliance with therapy, but also can reduce and even block the process of mucociliary clearance - the natural process which protects the upper airways.
Moreover, there is a shift towards minimising the use of preservatives in medicines, and Germany has already implemented a ban on benzalkonium chloride, a preservative often used in nasal formulations. This has already prompted some manufacturers - including Servier, AstraZeneca and Novartis - to develop closed pump systems that allow nasally-delivered drugs to be formulated without preservatives.
Another feature of the VPY pump is that it can be customised easily to provide enhanced ergonomic comfort and aesthetic appeal, promoting stronger product branding, claims Valois. VPY is intended for the OTC market (non-prescription drugs) and particularly for nasal decongestants.
VPY will be introduced at the Interpack exhibition, which kicks off in Dusseldorf, Germany, later this week. Valois will also unveil a new highly accurate nasal spray pump - Equadel - at the show.