A biotech company based in Spain says that new formulations are allowing the organization to deliver larger molecules straight to the pulmonary system. RidNova Pharmaceuticals says it’s using nanotechnology to deliver therapies using proteins, peptides, and other biologics to the lung surface.
Founder and CEO Devendra Ridhurkar, PhD, will be talking about the possibilities and challenges faced while developing the company’s nanoparticles at the 2026 Bioprocessing Summit Europe.
“We want to deliver drugs via the respiratory system because the lungs have extensive vascularization and rapid absorption capabilities,” explains Ridhurkar. “And this makes them perfect for delivering [some of the therapies based on] peptides, nucleic acids, and proteins that have been developed in the last four or five years.”
These therapies, he says, include emerging treatments for asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), as well as vaccines for respiratory illness. As Ridhurkar explains, the company currently has products in Phase I of development with a hope to commercialize the new formulations by 2026 or 2027.
Challenges the company has faced during development include stabilizing molecules that were originally developed to be injected in a liquid form, he says.
“One difficulty can be to make the formulation stable. And, in addition, there are regulatory challenges and challenges around, for example, [which] safety assessments [should be performed] and around clinical trial design,” Ridhurkar adds.
The new formulations, he says, use polymer-based nanoparticles and a liposomal drug release system, and require the drug to be spray dried for extra stability.
These are designed to distribute the drug product evenly across the lung surface, he explains. The company also aims to reduce the size of the finished molecule to be absorbed easily into the lungs.
Another challenge, meanwhile, has been ensuring the formulation isn’t degraded by chemicals on the surface of the lung, or broken down within the nasal passages after being inhaled by a patient, he says.