Pharmaceutics & Novel Drug Delivery Systems

Nanomedicine and Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology involves the design of structures measuring 1 to 100 nm in diameter. Nanomaterials are being developed as drug-delivery vehicles, contrast agents, and diagnostic devices, and some are now being studied in clinical trials.

The extraordinary developments of nanotechnology and nanomedicine during the past decade have significantly pushed the frontiers of materials science and the inventive spirit of industrial and clinical users alike. The ever improving ability to design, improve and commercialize new materials is clearly a feature that we just started to observe in recent years.  Novel nanotechnology is a much needed additional avenue at this time, especially when open access can result from the publication process. The industrialization of nanoscale titanium dioxide for a broad range of applications (most of which we are quite familiar with) is only one such example showing how nanomaterials have become a central component in the manufacturing process during the past decade.

The science of nanotechnology is therefore the ability to manipulate these tiny particles. Nanotechnology is increasingly employed to explore the unseen avenues of medical sciences. There are many types of nanoparticles that are used in medicine and other fields, gold particles, Dendrimers, Perfluorocarbon, Nanotube, Iron oxide and FeCo are just few types that are used in this field and will lead to personalized medicine and early target therapy .

The ability to assemble nanoparticles into functional structures is an important challenge that needs to be addressed for the generation of nanoparticle-based devices.

Sol-gel method represents a facile yet powerful strategy for the self-assembly of metal oxides, chalcogenides, and metal-semiconductor hybrid nanoparticle systems into three-dimensionally connected porous nanostructures. In this highlight, the application of later strategy for the assembly of chalcogenide semiconductor and noble metal nanoparticles and their intriguing physical properties is reviewed in the context of future application in catalysis, sensing, and separation technologies.

By interacting with biological molecules, therefore at nanoscale, nanotechnology opens up a vast field of research and application. Interactions between artificial molecular assemblies or nano devices and biomolecules can be understood both in the extracellular medium and inside the human cells. Operating at nanoscale allows to exploit physical properties different from those observed at microscale such as the volume/surface ratio.

A second area exhibiting a strong development is “nanodrugs” where nanoparticles are designed for targeted drug delivery. The use of such carriers improves the drug bio distribution, targeting active molecules to diseased tissues while protecting healthy tissue. A third area of application is regenerative medicine where nanotechnology allows developing biocompatible materials which support growth of cells used in cell therapy.

The application of nanotechnology to medicine raises new issues because of new uses they allow, for instance.

France is a country where the medical development of nanotechnology is significant, like Germany, the United Kingdom or Spain, as regards the European Union.