Former Westerner Creates Nasal Spray for Opioid Overdoses

Like many medications, naloxone, the nasal spray that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose, comes in a flimsy box. The device that delivers the medication is shaped like a cartoon spaceship and must remain sealed in a blister until used. It is difficult to transport and can be sprayed accidentally.

With a new device that started as a class project, Western Washington University alumnus Brendan Mudd wants to put the life-saving drug into more hands by making it easier to carry and conceal.

Mudd has spent the four months since graduating finalizing his design and is now seeking approval from the Food and Drug Administration, a process that could take several years, he said.

The Mudds device, called Nove (which rhymes with grove and is meant to resemble shortening without overdosing) resembles a sleek little Greek column. A piece of cord wraps around one end, making it easy to attach to a key ring. No more blister; the device itself protects the medication from accidental discharge. Users only need to separate the ends to access the nasal spray inside.

Mudd began developing his product during his junior year, when one of his instructors tasked his industrial design class with creating a product for first responders.

I’ve looked around the Bellingham community and the Seattle area, and it’s impossible not to see the effects of the opioid epidemic when you walk around a big city, Mudd said.

Six times as many people in the United States died from drug overdoses in 2021 as in 1999, and nearly 75% of those deaths involved an opioid, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency reports that Washington state saw a 22% increase in overdose deaths between 2021 and 2022, joining Wyoming for the largest percentage increase during that period.

Dr. Greg Thompson, Whatcom County’s co-health officer, told the county council in June that local drug overdoses more than doubled last year, from 44 in 2021 to at least 90 in 2022 .

I’ve been to some of the communities most affected by the outbreak and basically what I’ve learned is that people don’t really want to carry naloxone because they don’t want to be stigmatized as drug users, which in most cases is not even the reason they carry [it]. They’re often looking for a friend or family member, Mudd said.

Mudd also asked his college classmates why they chose not to carry the drug. Many said the box was difficult to pocket and they didn’t want to take bulky bags to parties or music festivals.

To overcome these obstacles, Mudd looked for ways to make its product as discreet and portable as possible.

The form is very functional. Ergonomically it’s the same as an existing device, but it’s just made in a much more minimalist way and looks a bit like an abstract sculpture, almost like a little piece of art on your key ring, Mudd said.

Mudd used his senior project as an opportunity to continue working on Nove. To help market and finance its development, he partnered with Charlie Brizz, a young entrepreneur whom Mudd met while visiting a childhood friend at Indiana University in Bloomington.

Brendan told me about the idea he was working on, which would eventually become Nove, and I was like, “That’s so cool, I love it.” So I contacted Brendan and said, Hey man, let me help you in any way I can. And it just evolved into an eventual partnership that we were working on together, Brizz said.

As a team, Mudd and Brizz won the 2023 Clapp IDEA competition from the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovations at Indiana University, with a $25,000 cash prize. They used this money to finalize some technical aspects of Noves’ design. They are now seeking additional funding from government grants and private investors to complete development of the atomizer, the part of the device that turns liquid naloxone into an inhalable mist, and, most importantly, to gain FDA approval.

Brizz currently views collaboration with an existing pharmaceutical company as Nove’s best option to gain FDA approval. Since the FDA has already examined these companies’ supply chains, only Nove’s proprietary items would require review, he said.

However, until the path to FDA approval becomes clearer, the founders are seeking letters of interest from local and state governments, which they hope will eventually purchase and freely distribute their product, just as they currently do for Nove’s main competitor, Narcan.

It’s an exciting thing, Brizz said. They want to see it come to market. These letters of interest are extremely important as a foundation for us to appear more than we are, in a sense, right? Because we’re 22 years old and we’re trying to tackle a very large and difficult problem.

Whether or not a pharmaceutical company partners with Nove, Brizz said he and Mudd are committed to bringing the product to market.

I just see the power of what this can be at scale. If you overdose, it’s one of the few times you face a death that can be reversed, Brizz said. The big thing we always say at the end of every meeting is: let’s save lives.