Utilizing Intranasal Drug Delivery Systems for Novel Antipsychotics Drug Development

Psychotic illnesses are significant symptoms of various mental disorders, including psychotic depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The high incidence of psychotic illness can be attributed to several factors, including low patient compliance stemming from limitations in antipsychotic treatments. Antipsychotics are pharmacological therapies used to manage psychotic disorders, addressing acute episodes and preventing relapses. However, these drugs often exhibit limited physicochemical properties, suboptimal pharmacokinetic profiles, low bioavailability, and insufficient solubility, which hinder their ability go through the blood-brain barrier (BBB). The traditional dosage forms and routes of administration, primarily oral and injectable also pose further challenges. The intranasal delivery system offers a promising alternative to overcome these limitations by facilitating drug administration through the nasal cavity, allowing for quick uptake into the bloodstream while circumventing enzymatic degradation and first-pass metabolism associated with oral routes. The intranasal route can achieve significant drug concentrations in the brain without interference from the BBB, increasing bioavailability and enabling a rapid onset of pharmacological effects at lower doses and frequencies than oral medications. Nonetheless, anatomical, physiological, histological challenges as well as the fundamental processes involved in drug uptake via the nasal epithelium complicate systemic and brain distribution. The effectiveness of intranasal antipsychotic formulations can be improved through different drug delivery systems (DDS) such as nanoparticles, liposomes, nanogels, and other nanocarriers that help transport the drugs from the nasal cavity to the brain.