NoAL (HPMC) in Combination With Oxymetazoline in Patients With Allergic Rhinitis
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2014-02-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Allergic rhinitis is treated with a variety of systemic and locally applied drugs. The
effectiveness of the intranasally applied formulations is diminished by the cleaning
mechanisms of the nose, rhinorrhea in particular. Slowing down of the clearance of the nasal
mucosa and prolonging the contact time of locally applied drugs with the nasal mucosa would
improve their efficacy. One method is creating dosage forms containing mucoadhesive polymers.
We have demonstrated that a mucoadhesive solution containing HPMC enhances the clinical
efficacy of oxymetazoline. However, the industrial development of fixed combinations of
pharmaceutical compound and mucoadhesive carrier requires substantial investments, escalating
manifold if different pharmaceutical compounds have to be rendered mucoadhesive.
NoAl is a cellulose derivative powder, which forms a gel layer on contact with the mucosal
surface of the nose blocking the contact of the pollen grains with the nasal mucosa in
seasonal allergic rhinitis. However, there is another potential benefit of applying NoAl
(HPMC) along with other commercially available drugs for local treatment of rhinitis, as the
formation of a gel layer can substantially delay their clearance from the nose and thus
increase their effectiveness. This hypothesis needs to be substantiated clinically.