Bespak and Upperton Partner on Nasal Drug Development

Bespak and Upperton have entered into a strategic collaboration to provide an integrated development and manufacturing pathway for nasal drug-device combination products. The partnership brings together Bespak's expanded proprietary nasal device portfolio with Upperton's specialist expertise in formulation development, analytical services, and clinical manufacturing.

The collaboration comes as interest in nasal drug delivery continues to grow, particularly for systemic central nervous system (CNS) and nose-to-brain therapies. Drug developers often need to coordinate separate formulation, device, and manufacturing partners throughout development, creating additional complexity. The two companies aim to simplify this process by combining their capabilities earlier in the product development process.

Chris Hirst, CEO of Bespak, said: “Nasal drug delivery is an exciting and rapidly evolving area, particularly as developers explore new opportunities for systemic delivery of CNS therapies and innovative nose-to-brain applications. However, successful development requires formulation, device and manufacturing strategies to work together from the outset.

“Our collaboration with Upperton adds highly complementary formulation and analytical expertise to our expanded nasal device portfolio, giving customers a more integrated development pathway. By considering the formulation and device as one combination product from an early stage, we can help customers navigate development more efficiently and build a stronger foundation for clinical and commercial success.”

Under the collaboration, Bespak will contribute expertise in nasal device design, development engineering, industrialisation, and commercial supply, while Upperton will provide formulation development, analytical, and clinical manufacturing capabilities. Together, the companies intend to support customers from early opportunity assessment and formulation-device development through clinical supply, scale-up, and commercial manufacturing.

Nikki Whitfield, CEO of Upperton, said: “Successful nasal drug product development depends on a detailed understanding of the interaction between formulation, device and manufacturing requirements. By combining Upperton’s formulation, analytical and clinical manufacturing expertise with Bespak’s device engineering and commercialisation

capabilities, we can provide customers with coordinated support across the development journey.

“Bringing our specialists together around each programme will help customers make critical development decisions earlier and provide a clearer pathway from development and clinical supply towards commercialisation.”

The combined offering will cover liquid, soft-mist, and dry-powder formulations across Bespak's expanded single- and multi-dose nasal-device portfolio. By integrating formulation and device development earlier, the companies aim to reduce development complexity, improve efficiency, and help accelerate nasal drug products toward clinical development and commercial supply.