Nanostructured lipid carriers for intranasal cannabidiol delivery in Dravet and Lennox-Gastaut syndromes: bridging preclinical promise to clinical translation

Dravet syndrome (DS) and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) are severe developmental epileptic encephalopathies that appear in early childhood, are unresponsive to medications, and have a dismal neurodevelopmental prognosis. Most patients do not respond well to polytherapy, and the need to fulfill this gap in clinical practice is urgent. Cannabidiol (CBD) has proven to be an effective adjunct drug, but oral preparations have low bioavailability, slow onset and systemic adverse effects. Nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) are an innovative therapeutic technology that can deliver CBD directly to the brain via the nose, enhance brain targeting, achieve faster onset, and minimize systemic exposure, which could be a valuable solution to current deficiencies in treatment.Intranasal NLC-CBD has preclinical evidence of increasing brain CBD levels, facilitating anticonvulsant action, and protecting against seizures in established animal models, like pentylenetetrazol-induced convulsions. NLC-based preparations have increased brain-to-plasma ratios and longer central exposure at lower doses in comparison to free or orally administered CBD. Despite these promising findings, there are still translational gaps to be addressed, such as insufficient safety data in the long term, disease-specific DS/LGS genetic models, inconsistencies in the pediatric nasal physiology, and conventional clinical dosing paradigms.Literature for this review was identified through searches of PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, covering studies published up to March 2026 on CBD, NLC, intranasal drug delivery, DS, and LGS.There is a dire need to carry out properly designed clinical trials that would demonstrate the safety, pharmacokinetics (PK) and efficacy of intranasal NLC-CBD in DS and LGS. The first pediatric clinical trials, adaptive trial models and regulatory harmonization are necessary to convert this noble nanomedicine approach into a clinical therapy.