Dry pharmaceutical compositions comprising active agent nanoparticles bound to carrier particles

Provided herein are dry pharmaceutical compositions suitable for transmucosal delivery, comprising dry particles, such as spray-dried particles, that include pharmaceutically active agent nanoparticles, a binder, and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, where the active agent nanoparticles have an average particle size diameter prior to processing of less than about 1 µm, and wherein up to 10% of the spray-dried particles have a particle size of less than 10 µm; at least 50% of the spray-dried particles have a particle size of at least about 15 µm; and at least 90% of the spray-dried particles have a particle size of up to about 55 µm. Also provided are methods for making such pharmaceutical compositions and therapeutic methods comprising transmucosally administering the compositions, such as intranasally or intravaginally, or by other routes of administration.