Aptar and Massachusetts General Hospital Partner to Build Predictive Nose-to-Brain Screening Platform for CNS Drugs
核心洞察
AptarGroup and Massachusetts General Hospital signed a research collaboration to build an integrated translational platform for nose-to-brain drug delivery.
The platform will combine in vitro, in vivo and computational methods to characterize transport mechanisms, pathways and kinetics across molecular classes.
The intended output is a New Approach Methodology (NAM) aligned with FDA support for human-relevant in vitro and in silico drug development tools.
AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE: ATR) has signed a research collaboration agreement with Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) to develop an integrated translational research platform for nose-to-brain (N2B) drug delivery, with the goal of generating a predictive screening tool for central nervous system (CNS) drug candidates. The collaboration, announced September 14, 2026, will be led by Alice Stanton, PhD, Assistant Professor and Investigator in the Center for Genomic Medicine at Massachusetts General Brigham and Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Under the agreement, Aptar and its collaborators will combine in vitro, in vivo and computational technologies to quantitatively characterize the mechanisms, pathways and kinetics of nose-to-brain transport across a broad range of molecular classes and physicochemical properties.
A New Approach Methodology for Candidate Screening
The intended output is a New Approach Methodology (NAM), an approach consistent with FDA's support for expanding human-relevant in vitro and in silico methods in drug development. The resulting NAM is designed to incorporate Aptar's nasal drug delivery systems to help improve candidate selection, inform formulation and device design decisions, and support acceleration of development of therapies targeting neurological diseases. According to the companies, the tool aims to enable screening of compounds that are amenable to N2B delivery, supporting safer treatment for patients while reducing costs.
"Through this study, we will profile the intranasal pathway to the brain and develop a tool to mimic this route, towards robust and non-invasive delivery of medicines that may otherwise be stopped by the blood-brain barrier or impeded by absorption in other tissues. The ability to provide effective drug delivery to the brain via the nose could catalyze an inflection point for disease treatments," Stanton said.
Delivery Platforms and Prior Investments
Aptar brings decades of research and investment in proprietary nasal delivery systems, backed by 30 years of related field data. The company has invested in technologies specifically designed to target the upper nasal cavity, including its Cerespray (搜索) and Neurospray (搜索) platforms, which are intended to support precise deposition in regions associated with nose-to-brain transport.
The Stanton Lab contributes capabilities spanning neurogenetics, omics, cell biology, machine learning, microfluidics, microphysiological systems, biomaterials engineering, nanotechnology and tissue-engineered organoid models. The lab describes its focus as "Technology Towards Treatments," driven by the need for better treatments for neurological disease.
"Interest in nose-to-brain delivery has accelerated significantly in recent years, yet one of the most common questions we hear from pharmaceutical innovators is whether a specific molecule is truly suitable for this pathway," said Reenal Gandhi, Global Business Development Director, Aptar Pharma (搜索). "Our goal is to transform nose-to-brain delivery from a promising concept into a more predictable and data-driven development pathway, helping pharmaceutical innovators evaluate opportunities earlier and accelerate future CNS pipelines."
Unresolved Scientific Questions
Over the past decade, nasal drug delivery has become an established route for both local and systemic therapies. More recently, interest in direct nose-to-brain delivery has grown as researchers and pharmaceutical companies seek new approaches to treat neurological and CNS disorders such as Alzheimer's disease (搜索), Parkinson's disease (搜索), multiple sclerosis (搜索) and depression (搜索).
While pioneering studies, including those conducted at Wake Forest University School of Medicine (搜索), have demonstrated that direct transport from the nose to the brain can occur, critical scientific questions remain. Pharmaceutical innovators continue to work with partners such as Aptar to determine which molecules are best suited for N2B delivery, which physicochemical properties drive transport, and how preclinical results can reliably predict human outcomes.
The collaboration extends Aptar Pharma (搜索)'s expansion in intranasal and nose-to-brain delivery. In October 2024, the company acquired device technology assets from SipNose Nasal Delivery Systems (搜索), including platforms designed for local, systemic and direct-to-brain delivery. A 2025 study using an Aptar nasal system demonstrated PET-detectable delivery of intranasal insulin to multiple brain regions in humans. Aptar also partnered with France-based Dianosic in 2025 on an intranasal scaffold platform, with nose-to-brain applications among the areas being explored.
Aptar noted in its forward-looking statements that early-stage or preclinical research findings, including those from this collaboration, may not be replicated or may not predict outcomes in later-stage development or in humans, and that the resulting NAM tool may not achieve its intended predictive capability or gain acceptance by pharmaceutical partners or regulators.