Company History
As an ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeon and clinician specializing in nasal and sinus diseases, I experienced first-hand the limitations of existing nasal drug delivery options. I was seeing the same patients coming into my clinic – time and time again – in many cases after one or more surgeries. These chronic conditions often resulted in a compromised quality of life for many patients.
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In my quest to better understand the pathophysiology of these common and debilitating diseases and through my research work for my PhD, I learned more about nasal dynamics and the physiology of the nasal airways. It then became clear to me that there must be a better solution for treating these conditions. I found the solution came down to simple anatomy: a patient’s own exhalation breath allows the closing of the soft palate and when combined with an appropriate nosepiece, it naturally propels medications deep in the nasal cavity more efficiently and consistently than current approaches. Taking the drug where the pathology is or the vaccine to the true mucosa should result in better efficacy and patient satisfaction.
This concept led to the design of the first model of the bi-directional drug delivery device upon which OptiNose would be built. With the encouragement and business experience of my wife, Helena, the first patents were filed and OptiNose was founded in 2000. We then began to raise the initial capital to support R&D and clinical trials.
Today, OptiNose is conducting Phase III trials seeking approval to use our technologies to deliver fluticasone, an intranasal steroid used to treat nasal polyps, and sumatriptan, a medication used to treat migraines. This technology has the promise to better treat these underserved conditions and improve patients’ quality of life. But we believe this is just the beginning.
The future can be even more exciting for OptiNose. We believe our technology has the potential to be transformative in the area of drug delivery across multiple disease states. For example, the area of vaccine delivery holds much promise. The OptiNose vaccine delivery broadly targets the surfaces of the nasal cavity which are key for activating the immune system‘s response to foreign microorganisms. Delivery to the respiratory mucosa is critical for an optimal local and systemic immune response. With vaccines safely and effectively delivered by our devices, patients could vaccinate themselves reducing the cost, risks and the pain that comes with using injection needles.
There is also potential in the area of nose-to-brain delivery based on the possibility of the technology to enable medications to circumvent the blood brain barrier – a challenge which has historically limited the effectiveness of therapies targeting the brain. As a result, OptiNose is exploring the use of this technology to address a broad array of central nervous system (CNS) disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, depression and schizophrenia. The goal is to offer improved delivery targeting the diseased regions in the brain while reducing the often-unacceptable systemic adverse events typical to injection or oral delivery.
We believe we are on a path to something truly special here at OptiNose. Stay tuned as our team works hard to transform how medications can deliver the promise.
Sincerely,
Per Djupesland, MD, PhD, Chief Science Officer and Co-Founder
