Dry pharmaceutical compositions comprising active agent nanoparticles bound to carrier particles

Provided herein are dry pharmaceutical compositions for transmucosal delivery, comprising 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 spray-drying 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 aministering the compositions, such as intranasally or intravaginally.