Nasal Drug Delivery Patents: Leaders, Trends & White Space 2026
- Filing peaked in 2023 at 22 families, then eased back — this looks like a technology that occupied its core claim space early rather than one still accelerating.
- Europe leads receiving offices with 22 filings, ahead of the United States at 15 and WIPO/PCT at 14, so European examiners have seen the densest slice of this art.
- The most-cited families cluster around epinephrine intranasal formulations, meaning anaphylaxis and emergency-use dosing is the best-mapped sub-area, not the whole field.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks 91 patent families filed between 2017 and mid-2026 that combine nasal or intranasal drug delivery claims with specific technical anchors: droplet size distribution, deposition pattern, nose-to-brain delivery, mucociliary clearance, or device metering. The IPC mix is dominated by A61K medicinal-preparation claims (67 records) and A61M body-fluid device claims (34 records), with therapeutic-activity classifications (A61P, 27 records) layered on top — confirming that most filings bundle a formulation claim with a delivery-device or therapeutic-use claim rather than filing either alone.
Publication in this corpus lags actual filing by roughly eighteen months, so 2025 and 2026 counts will revise upward as later applications publish. Read the recent-year figures as a floor, not a ceiling.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Ninety-one families, six IPC subclasses of any real weight, and a filing curve that rose then flattened — the shape below is the evidence, not a narrative fitted to it afterward.
A flat-to-declining curve after a 2023 peak
Filings moved from 3 in 2017 to a peak of 22 in 2023, sat at 9 by the 2022 midpoint, and stand at 5 in the most recent (partial) year. That is not a technology in early acceleration; the core claim space around metering, deposition and formulation appears largely staked out by the mid-2020s.
Formulation claims outnumber device claims two to one
A61K medicinal-preparation filings (67) outnumber A61M device filings (34) by roughly two to one, with A61P therapeutic-activity classifications (27) riding alongside many of them. Electrotherapy (A61N, 3), heterocyclic compounds (C07D, 2) and nanotechnology (B82Y, 1) appear only at the margins — signalling that novel chemistry and electro-assisted delivery are not where this field's claim density sits.
Shares are the percentage of the 91 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Nasal and Intranasal Drug Delivery with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about nasal and intranasal drug delivery and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited and most recent filings
Nasal Spray Device and Method of Nebulizing a Liquid Formulation
A nasal spray device comprises a non-pressurized reservoir for containing a liquid formulation; a spray nozzle; and a manually energizable pump, configured to pressurize a quantity of said liquid formulation and causing the liquid formulation to move through the spray nozzle such that the liquid formulation is discharged from the spray nozzle as an aerosol spray. The spray nozzle comprises a membrane having a plurality of micropores of a substantially identical size below 8 micron and beyond 3 micron through which the liquid formulation passes as the liquid formulation is discharged from the device.Filed by Medspray B.V., published 2025-06-05 — a mechanical-metering approach that ties droplet size directly to a micropore membrane geometry rather than to pump pressure alone.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US9789071B2 | Intranasal formulation of epinephrine for the treatment of anaphylaxis | 48 |
| 2 | WO2015034822A1 | Intranasal formulation for the treatment of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), cardiac life support (CLS), … | 38 |
| 3 | US20160220489A1 | Intranasal Formulation for the Treatment of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), Cardiac Life Support (CLS), … | 38 |
| 4 | WO2020197995A1 | Nasal drug delivery system | 16 |
| 5 | US10806709B2 | Intranasal formulation of epinephrine for the treatment of anaphylaxis | 12 |
| 6 | US20210069126A1 | Intranasal Formulation of Epinephrine for the Treatment of Anaphylaxis | 10 |
| 7 | WO2007113551A1 | Nasal spray device | 10 |
| 8 | US20250177668A1 | Nasal Spray Device and Method of Nebulizing a Liquid Formulation | 4 |
| 9 | WO2020129085A1 | Intranasal formulation | 3 |
| 10 | US20170368000A1 | Intranasal Formulation of Epinephrine for the Treatment of Anaphylaxis | 3 |
Citation counts reward older filings simply because they have had more time to be cited; treat this table as a map of influence within the searched corpus, not a ranking of current commercial importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns stand out once the raw counts are put next to each other: where claim density already sits, who is still active, and which citation clusters are worth reading closely before drafting.
The peak has passed, not arrived
Filings rose from 3 in 2017 to a peak of 22 in 2023 before falling back to 5 in the latest partial year. A field that peaks and recedes rather than climbing steadily usually means the obvious claim territory — metering mechanisms, standard formulation classes, deposition-pattern measurement — has already been staked.
Formulation claims dominate device claims
A61K medicinal-preparation classifications appear in 67 of 91 records against 34 for A61M delivery devices. New device-only filings compete in a thinner slice of the art than formulation filings do, which may make device mechanics the more tractable place to seek clear claim scope.
Emergency-use epinephrine formulations anchor the citation graph
The most-cited records in this corpus are intranasal epinephrine formulations for anaphylaxis and cardiopulmonary resuscitation, with the top record cited 48 times. That concentration reflects an early, well-litigated therapeutic use case — it does not mean other indications are less patentable, only less mapped by citation.
Europe has seen the densest prior art
The EPO received 22 filings, ahead of the United States (15), WIPO/PCT (14), India (11), Australia (10) and Canada (6). A European filing strategy in this space meets more prior art than a US-first one does.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to nasal and intranasal drug delivery, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is active, and where the gaps sit
Co-filing is rare in this corpus — only five co-assignee pairs exist — and momentum has thinned: most named assignees show zero filings in the latest year, with only one or two still filing at all.
Collaboration is the exception, not the norm
Only five co-assignee pairings appear across the full dataset, and the strongest of them — G2B Pharma with Shin Nihon Kagaku — accounts for seven shared records. Most families in this space are filed by a single assignee working alone.
Recent-year filing has thinned to a handful of names
Cyrano Therapeutics and Glenmark Specialty each show one filing in the latest year; assignees including G2B Pharma, Polyrizon, Systane Biopharma and Shin Nihon Kagaku show none. Latest-year counts understate true activity given publication lag, but the drop-off is broad enough to be a real signal, not an artefact of one company pausing.
A small cluster of emergency-use filings carries most citation weight
The three most-cited records in this corpus all concern intranasal epinephrine or CPR/anaphylaxis formulations, cited 48, 38 and 38 times respectively. Anyone filing near emergency-use intranasal formulations should expect to be examined against this cluster specifically.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| CYRANO THERAPEUTICS INC | 1 | — |
| Glenmark Specialty S.A. | 1 | 0% |
| G2B PHARMA | 0 | — |
| POLYRIZON | 0 | — |
| Systane Biopharma | 0 | — |
| Shin Nihon Kagaku Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University | 0 | — |
| Cipla Limited | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, portfolio benchmarking, or spotting an entry point.
Check freedom-to-operate against the citation cluster
If the target formulation is an emergency-use intranasal drug, read the epinephrine and CPR/anaphylaxis families closely before drafting claims — this is the most densely cited corner of the dataset.
Explore prior art in EurekaModel the under-claimed device mechanics
Micropore-membrane metering and deposition-pattern measurement show thinner filing density than formulation claims. A device-first filing strategy may find clearer claim scope there than a formulation-first one.
Run a white space search in EurekaTrack the assignees still filing
With most named assignees at zero filings in the latest year, watch the one or two still active — their next filings will show whether the field is entering a new cycle or staying flat.
Set up assignee monitoring in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
The most-cited records in this corpus are intranasal epinephrine formulations for anaphylaxis and cardiopulmonary resuscitation, led by a filing cited 48 times and two others cited 38 times each. That concentration reflects how early and thoroughly emergency-use intranasal epinephrine was litigated and cited, not that other therapeutic areas lack innovation. A newer entrant should treat these specific families as required reading before drafting formulation claims for any emergency-use indication.
Filing rose from 3 families in 2017 to a peak of 22 in 2023, then eased to 5 in the latest partial year. Because publication lags actual filing by about eighteen months, the most recent year will revise upward, but the broader shape — a rise to a 2023 peak followed by a pullback — suggests the field has moved past its fastest growth phase. New filers should expect more prior art in core formulation and metering claims than in adjacent, less-explored branches.
The European Patent Office received the most filings in this dataset at 22, ahead of the United States at 15 and the WIPO/PCT route at 14, with India, Australia and Canada following. A filing strategy centred on Europe will encounter denser prior art than a US-first approach, which matters for both claim drafting and freedom-to-operate searches.
Filing density skews heavily toward A61K formulation claims (67 of 91 records) and A61M device claims (34), while electrotherapy-assisted delivery, heterocyclic compound formulations, and nanoparticle carriers for nasal mucosal uptake each appear in only one or two records. Micropore-membrane droplet control and deposition-pattern measurement methods also show comparatively thin coverage relative to the formulation core. These branches are worth checking specifically before assuming they are unclaimed, since low counts in a niche search string can also mean the terminology used for that art falls outside the exact keywords searched.
Filing alone is the norm: only five co-assignee pairings appear across all 91 families, and the strongest pairing accounts for just seven shared records. Most organisations in this dataset — including the assignees still active in the latest year — file independently rather than through joint ventures or co-development partners. That makes single-assignee prosecution history the more useful signal here than partnership announcements.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.