Nanomedicines: Targeted Therapy

Nanomedicines are nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems that offer targeted and enhanced therapeutic effects for various medical applications.
Category
Medical technology
Where to get
Utilized in research laboratories and some medical facilities
Applicable for
Prepared by Lee Cheng, reviewed by Jane Cox

Nanomedicines FAQ

What is Nanomedicine & how does it work?

nanomedicine, branch of medicine that seeks to apply nanotechnology —that is, the manipulation and manufacture of materials and devices that are roughly 1 to 100 nanometres (nm; 1 nm = 0.0000001 cm) in size—to the prevention of disease and to imaging, diagnosis, monitoring, treatment, repair, and regeneration of biological systems.

What is nanotechnology and what is Nanomedicine?

Nanotechnology has many definitions but in general it is the use and application of materials with sizes in the nanometre range. Just as a millimetre is one-thousandth of a metre, a nanometre is one-millionth of a millimetre.

Why are nanomedicines important?

For example, drugs that are targeting cancers must avoid healthy tissues and organs or damage can be caused. Nanomedicines therefore can play an important role in ensuring enough of the drug enters the body, that drug that does enter stays in the body for long periods and is targeted specifically to the areas that need treatment.

How does nanomedicine impact all fields of Medicine?

Nanomedicine impacts all fields of medicine. Nanomedicine is understood to be a key enabling instrument for personalized, targeted and regenerative medicine by delivering the next level of new drugs, treatments and implantable devices to clinicians and patients, for real breakthroughs in healthcare.

What are nanomedicines used for?

Today, nanomedicines are used globally to improve the treatments and lives of patients suffering from a range of disorders including ovarian and breast cancer, kidney disease, fungal infections, elevated cholesterol, menopausal symptoms, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, asthma and emphysema.

What is the role of nanomedicine in clinical trials?

The nanomedicine market is dominated by applications based on drug delivery, surpassing regenerative medicine, diagnosis both in vitro and in vivo, and vaccine-oriented applications. For cancers and infectious, cardiac, and orthopedic disorders, almost 40% of phase II clinical trials are based on nanomedicines 2.

What are the benefits of nanomedicines over conventional medicines?

Widely highlighted benefits of nanomedicines over conventional medicines include superior efficacy, safety, physicochemical properties, and pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic profiles of pharmaceutical ingredients. Especially, various kinetic characteristics of nanomedicines in body are further influenced by their formulations.

Nanomedicines References

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