AimsThe present study was undertaken to determine the absolute systemic availability of budesonide from three different devices for nasal administration: pressurized aerosol, aqueous pump spray, and powder. Methods Sixteen healthy, non-smoking, volunteers participated in this open, randomized, and crossover study. All subjects received budesonide as an intravenous dose of 400 mg, and as three, single-dose, intranasal administrations: pressurized aerosol 800 mg, aqueous pump spray 400 mg, and powder 800 mg. Blood was sampled for 10 h after each administration and budesonide was assayed in plasma by liquid chromatography plus mass spectrometry. Results The mean [95% CI] systemic availability of budesonide with reference to the metered dose was: 13 [10; 15]%, 29 [23; 37]%, and 20 [16; 23]%, and the maximum plasma concentration (C max ) was attained at (t max ) 2.0, 0.7, and 0.4 h after administration for the pressurized aerosol, aqueous pump spray, and powder, respectively. Conclusions The uptake of budesonide was more rapid and more complete, and the systemic availability of the drug was significantly higher from the aqueous pump spray and powder than from the pressurized aerosol.