Pain Killer Medicines Work Better as Nasal Sprays: Researchers

Painkiller medications in the form of nasal sprays are more efficient than oral capsules and pills, according to a study.

Scientists from the University of Southern Denmark found that medicines taken through the nose can transfer the active ingredients directly to the relevant place.

Headache and painkiller drugs when consumed orally take longer to reach the affected area and only a small amount gets used to treat the problem prevailing in the body. In most cases, the drugs lead to adverse reactions or may be cleared out from the body before they start functioning.

The team warns about the possible dangers of overdose of medicines containing chemicals in very high quantities that are unneeded by our body.

"People with brain diseases are often given huge amounts of unnecessary drugs. During a long life, or if you have a chronic disease, this may become problematic for your health", said Massimiliano Di Cagno, study author and assistant professor at the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Southern Denmark in a news release.

The study relied on the method employed by cocaine addicts where chemicals compounds get ingested through the nose and develop instant intoxication. The challenge was to get the right vehicle to release the drugs into the brain. Researchers used a natural sugar polymer, which is a large molecule made up of similar atoms, it can be natural or synthetic.

"This is an important breakthrough, which will bring us closer to delivering brain drugs by nasal spray", says Massimiliano Di Cagno.

In addition, their findings helped overcome two other hurdles involved in nasal transfer of brain drugs- frequent or hourly delivery of drug to the brain in serious patients and avoiding the spray drip from the nose because of gravity. The active drugs in the sprays reach the right brain areas by getting absorbed in the nasal lining. The sprays must be made of a thick fluid base so that it does not trickle out from the nose.

More information is available online in the journal of Pharmaceutics.