NANOPHARMACEUTICALS

There is enormous excitement and expectation surrounding the multidisciplinary field of nanotechnology. This carries over to nanomedicine - the application of nanotechnology to healthcare - which is already influencing the pharmaceutical industry, especially in the design, formulation and delivery of therapeutics. Nanopharmaceuticals are a relatively new class of therapeutic-containing nanomaterials that often have unique " nanoproperties" (physiochemical properties) due to their small size (compared with their bulk-phase counterparts) a high surface-to-volume ratio and the possibility of modulating their properties. Basically they are nanoparticles intended for a broad spectrum of clinical therapeutic applications with the potential to target a particular organ or tissue site, either passively or actively. Nanopharmaceuticals present novel reformulation opportunities for active agents (e.g., single molecule drugs, proteins, nucleic acids, etc.) that were previously insoluble or could not be targeted to a specific site of the body where they were needed. In other words, those therapeutic agents that were previously unsuitable for traditional oral or injectable drug formulations could now be "nanoformulated" for delivery to specific biological targets due to superior pharmacokinetics/ pharmacodynamics and/or active intracellular delivery. As a result, this approach has the ability to reduce toxicity and enhance bioavailability, thereby improving efficacy and patient compliance. Nanopharmaceuticals can also increase drug half-life by reducing immunogenicity and diminishing drug metabolism. With these advantages, nanopharmaceuticals have the ability to extend the economic life of proprietary drugs, thereby creating additional revenue streams. As a result, they have the potential to impact drug commercialization and the healthcare landscape. Inevitably they will become an integral part of mainstream medicine. A large number of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved nanopharmaceuticals have already been launched while many more are in various phases of clinical trials.