EMMETTEN, Switzerland, January 29, 2026 / Biotech Newswire / -- MetP Pharma AG, a pioneer in nose-to-brain drug delivery, today highlights the differentiated advantages of its proprietary nose-to-brain drug delivery technology (DDT) compared with systemic blood–brain barrier (BBB) transporter approaches such as BrainShuttle or other targeting approaches.

While recent years have seen increased interest in receptor-mediated BBB transport systems, MetP Pharma emphasizes that effective brain delivery does not require high systemic exposure or complex molecular shuttles. Instead, its technology leverages direct neural pathways uniquely accessible via intranasal administration, including the olfactory and trigeminal pathways.

Nose-to-brain delivery: a targeted, biology-driven approach

Nose-to-brain (N2B) delivery is fundamentally different from systemic high-dose strategies. Instead of maximizing plasma concentrations, it is designed to achieve high, localized concentration peaks in the brain by leveraging short neural diffusion pathways, enabling a rapid onset of action for highly potent compounds. This distinction can be decisive in clinical development, where safety, efficacy, and central nervous system exposure determine approval or failure.

When appropriately designed, intranasal neural targeting can achieve higher relative brain exposure and lower systemic plasma levels than intravenous transporter-based systems.

Superior brain exposure without systemic burden

Brain targeting efficiency is commonly assessed calculating the percentage of injected dose (ID) reaching the brain. Most approved CNS drugs achieve less than 1 percent ID, and for peptides, one to five percent ID combined with a brain-to-plasma ratio of more than 1 is considered excellent targeting efficiency. Until recently, it was widely believed that only receptor-mediated transcytosis could reliably reach this threshold.

However, MetP Pharma has published previously unreported preclinical data demonstrating that its nasal semaglutide gel achieves:

• Brain-to-plasma ratios well above 1
• Time- and dose-dependent brain exposure
• ID percentage values within the highly successful range for peptides

These findings provide strong support for therapeutically relevant clinical effects of semaglutide using MetP Pharma’s DDT, including appetite suppression and modulation of food reward and addiction diseases.

Clear differentiation versus transporter-based BBB technologies
Compared with BrainShuttle and other transporter-based approaches, MetP Pharma’s DDT offers several decisive advantages:

• Non-invasive administration and patient convenience: Transporter systems require intravenous injection or infusion, medical supervision, and clinical infrastructure, limiting suitability for chronic use. MetP Pharma’s technology is non-invasive, enables easy self-administration, and is well suited for long-term, repeated dosing supporting patient adherence and real-world use.
• Reduced systemic exposure and off-target effects: BBB shuttles depend on systemic circulation and high peripheral exposure prior to brain delivery. TfR, in particular, is widely expressed in peripheral tissues such as erythrocytes, liver, and muscle, creating risks of off-target uptake, peripheral toxicity and adverse effects observed in some clinical programs. MetP Pharma’s DDT enables direct brain targeting with minimal systemic circulation, reducing peripheral side effects, lowering required doses, and minimizing off-target exposure.
• Lower complexity, cost, and immunogenicity risk: Shuttle technologies rely on highly engineered bispecific antibodies or fusion proteins, increasing development complexity, manufacturing costs, and immunogenicity risk. MetP Pharma’s delivery technology is formulation-based, significantly simpler to develop, and more cost-effective to scale.
• Avoidance of BBB receptor interference: Chronic engagement of BBB receptors such as TfR raises theoretical concerns around interference with physiological ligand transport (e.g., iron homeostasis) and long-term effects on endothelial cells or neuronal uptake. Nose-to-brain delivery completely avoids manipulation of BBB receptors, offering a favorable long-term safety profile.

Nose-to-brain delivery for clinical and commercial success

Despite rapid growth of the N2B field, misconceptions persist due to exaggerated claims, inconsistent study designs, difficulty of quantifying brain targeting, and confusion with local or systemic delivery. MetP Pharma emphasizes that bioavailability comparisons with intravenous dosing are methodologically inappropriate, as the absence of plasma exposure is a feature - not a limitation - of effective neural targeting.

Claudia Mattern, Chief Scientific Officer of MetP Pharma said: “It is not possible to calculate the bioavailability for the N2B technology because a comparison with intravenous administration would be methodologically incorrect due to the lack of plasma availability. Asking for IV bioavailability in a nose-to-brain system is like criticising a scalpel for weighing less than a hammer.”

A plug-and-play opportunity for existing portfolios

MetP Pharma’s neural targeting DDT is designed as a plug-and-play enabling technology for existing peptide portfolios. The market increasingly rewards therapies that offer rapid onset, lower doses, improved tolerability, and better patient compliance - all areas where MetP Pharma’s approach delivers clear advantages.

MetP Pharma is actively pursuing strategic partnerships to apply its technology across metabolic, neurological, and neuropsychiatric indications.