How is nanomedicine changing the dynamics of the healthcare industry? (2023)

Over the past decade, a revolutionary new technology has entered our daily lives: nanotechnology. It has been applied in multiple areas through an integrated approach. With an increasing number of applications and products containing nanomaterials, nanotechnology is now an integral part of pharmaceutical research for the development of new drugs. Nanotechnology was found to have the ability to provide a new and innovative medical solution to address unmet medical needs in the form of nanomedicine.

Nanomedicine is the application of nanotechnology for medical purposes, using nanomaterials to diagnose, monitor, control, prevent and treat various diseases. Nanomaterials exhibit some novel physicochemical properties that differ from their conventional bulk chemical equivalents due to their small size. These properties greatly expand a range of opportunities in the field of drug development.

Key Applications of Nanomedicine

Nanomedicine is the application of nanotechnology in healthcare applications such as B. Disease treatment and diagnosis using nanoparticles in medical devices, as well as nanoelectronic biosensors and molecular nanotechnology. Despite numerous challenges such as B. Lack of foresight regarding the toxicity of these technologies and an immature regulatory framework to study them, the diagnostic and therapeutic potential of nanomedicine should accelerate their development in the coming years. The main applications of nanomedicine in healthcare are

smart pills

The term "smart pills" refers to nanometer-level electronic devices that are shaped and designed like pharmaceutical pills, but perform more advanced tasks such as detection, imaging, and drug delivery. Previously, nanotechnology helped develop smart pills like PillCam, a capsule with a miniature video camera, and dose-tracking pills.smart pillsThey are part of a growing number of technological advances in medical diagnosis and can provide unambiguous answers to diseases of the gastrointestinal tract with as little intervention as possible for the patient.

Smart pills could potentially change the way gastrointestinal diseases are detected and treated, potentially replacing traditional diagnostic approaches such as endoscopy/colonoscopy. Smart pills have a wide range of applications, but they can also be used for sophisticated diagnostic procedures and therapies for gastrointestinal diseases. The smart pill can be used to measure important information about gastrointestinal symptoms and transmit data wirelessly. At present, smart pills are very expensive due to extensive funding, research and development efforts, manufacturing costs, and labor. Despite these hurdles, several leading medtechs, tech companies, and startups are working hard to introduce low-cost smart pills into the healthcare sector to meet demand and gain market share.

Detection and treatment of cancer with nanomedicine

Damage to healthy body cells during chemotherapy and radiation therapy is a major problem. New nanomedical technologies are used in the treatment of skin cancer, enabling the efficient delivery of drugs and other therapeutic therapies to specific sites of the tumor and target cells with minimal dangerous side effects. Nanomedicine in cancer can be used as an adjuvant to vaccine therapy or as a drug carrier to help us target tumors more effectively with anticancer drugs while sparing normal tissues.

Nanotherapy helps to overcome the lack of selectivity, multidrug resistance and water solubility of conventional cancer chemotherapy. Nanomedicine is used to create NanoFlares, a new approach to identifying cancer cells in the circulatory system. NanoFlares are particles that bind to gene targets in cancer cells and produce light when that specific gene target is localized, aiding in their detection. The use of nanotechnology-based therapeutics reduces patient risk and improves survival rates. The application of nanotechnology in cancer treatment has increased the ability to destroy cancerous tissues while causing minimal damage to healthy tissues and organs, detecting cancer and killing cancer cells before they form tumors.

Nanomedicine in drug delivery

Most healthcare nanotechnologies involve the use of nanovectors to precisely transport and deliver a drug to target cells. This targeting of nanoparticles allows for greater drug efficacy and bioavailability while reducing dose and toxicity. These nanomedicines are increasingly used in oncology, particularly in the treatment of "hard-to-reach" tumors such as those of the pancreas, ovaries and even ovariesbrain tumor. Nanoparticles are also used as a heat source to improve the effectiveness of radiation against cancer, allowing for fewer sessions or lower doses. For example,Nanobiotixhas developed a technology to add hafnium oxide nanoparticles: when administered before radiation therapy, these particles attach themselves to tumor cells and enhance the potential of X-rays to precisely destroy them. The start-up received fast-track approval from the FDA for the studyNBTXR3, a product derived from this technology, for head and neck cancer.

Nanomedicine and Regenerative Medicine

Nanotechnology and regenerative medicine are emerging areas that have the potential to transform modern medicine. Regenerative medicine has come a long way in recent years with the advent of nanotechnology and promises to be a viable strategy to restore function and regenerate diseased tissues and organs. Regenerative medicine has the potential to replace damaged tissue with healthy, functional tissue. Biocompatible materials can be designed to resemble physiological tissue. These nanobiomaterials can also be combined with stem cells, which act as scaffolds and provide the right environment for cells to proliferate, differentiate, and become functional. Applications currently range from bone reconstruction to experimental wound healing.

Challenges of unmet medical needs in nanomedicine

Humanity is still struggling with a number of serious and complex diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's and othersParkinson's disease, diabetes and various types of significant inflammatory or infectious diseases (e.g. HIV). Most of these diseases have a significant adverse impact on the patient and society as a whole and the associated social and insurance systems. These scourges must be combated with the appropriate measures, which are largely handled by nanomedical applications. Nanomedicine has the potential to provide promising answers to many diseases and raises high expectations for better, more efficient and affordable healthcare for millions of people. Nanotechnologies impact virtually every aspect of modern medicine, from diagnosis to disease surveillance, surgery and chemotherapy to regenerative medicine.

Several areas of medical treatment are already taking advantage of nanotechnology. The first nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems are already on the market, others are in clinical trials or, in most cases, in development. Nanodiagnostics is another very attractive area of ​​nanomedicine and the goal is to detect diseases as early as possible. Ideally, a single cell exhibiting bad behavior would be recognized and cured or killed. Thanks to new concepts in regenerative medicine, many patients with organ failure or serious injuries now have hope. Artificial skin, bones and cartilage are already at an advanced stage of research and some are on the market.

Main advantages of nanomedicine

From a therapeutic point of view, nanomedicine is of great importance. Nanomedicine aims to achieve valuable knowledge, innovation and desired treatment outcomes in healthcare. It has several unique advantages over the traditional one.drug delivery system. It can be effectively used for early detection and prevention of diseases, and can improve the diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of a variety of diseases.

In addition to cancer, nanomedicine can also lead to better clinical outcomes in other groups of diseases, e.gcardiovascular, neurodegenerative, musculoskeletal and inflammatory diseases. Nanotherapeutics can reduce toxicity, have a higher dose-response (better drug selection) and improve solubility, making them cheaper than traditional drugs.

Nanomedicine can also play a crucial role in disease detection and diagnosis. Looking at the experimental development of nanomedicine in terms of design (structure), morphology/surface topography, formulation of biomolecules, nanomedicine active ingredients and manufacturing, the segment has experienced significant growth in the last few decades. However, there are significant challenges hampering the clinical viability and market introduction of these products, most notably very high capital investments.

Nanomedicine Market Assessment

Over the years, the number of approved drugs and applications based on nanotechnology has increased at an impressive rate, as these nanoparticle-based medicines have several unique advantages and can provide promising results in numerous diseases. Nanomedicine reduces unwanted toxicity, improves patient adherence, improves efficacy and providesbetter clinical outcomes and treatment outcomes. These new generations of nanomedicine can overcome the problem of traditional active pharmaceutical ingredients, including formulations and their delivery systems.

In order to gain market share and gain an early advantage, pharmaceutical and biotech companies are busy developing various novel nanomedical technologies and products. Many nanocarrier-based therapies are already on the market, and hundreds of the therapies are in various stages of clinical trials and are expected to enter the market in the near future. The introduction of the therapies is expected to improve the treatment scenario and health outcomes.

Since 1989 approx78 Nanomedicineshave been approved and several of these nanomedicines are in the global healthcare market.FDAapproved more66 products. Likewise theEuropean Medicines Agency (EMA)has approved31 products. Approved products range from nano-delivery and pharmaceuticals tomedical images,Diagnoseand biomaterials.

Government support for pharmaceutical and biotech companies has stimulated the growth of the nanomedicine market on a much larger scale. Like the FDA, she has approved severalInvestigational New Drug (IND) applicationsfor nano formulations. The health organization's positive approach has also led to clinical trials for important indications such aslymphoma,breast cancer,lung cancer, mesenchymal tissue,Central nervesystem, solid tumors and urogenital cancer,among other.

Large pharmaceutical and biotech giants such asInvitae Corporation, Sanofi, Pfizer, CombiMatrix Corporation, Celgene Corporation, Luminex Corporation, Leadient BioSciences, Mallinckrodt, DiaSorin, Johnson & Johnson, Nanosphere, General Electric Company, Merck, Pfizer, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Abbott Laboratories,are among other things active in theNanomedicine market. Increasing prevalence of various chronic diseases, growing awareness of nanomedicine, advances in R&D activities, increased investment, increasing healthcare spending, and increasing collaboration between healthcare institutions and pharmaceutical companies will also fuel the growth of the nanomedicine market in the coming years. . Advances and better understanding of genetics, proteomics, molecular and cellular biology, materials science and bioengineering will also drive the growth of the nanomedicine market.

Future prospects for nanomedicine

Various applications of nanomedicine have been put into clinical practice over the years, ranging from medical devices to nanomedicines. Although there is still a long way to go before the full regulation of nanomedicines, from the creation to the development of protocols for the evaluation, characterization and control of processes of the nanomedicines, the reformulation of already existing medicines and the development of new medicines, it has been in the course strongly encouraged at the time. nanomedical research. Nanomedical products span a wide spectrum in terms of structure and type and have been incorporated into a variety of indications for both acute and chronic diseases.

Ongoing research in nanomedicine is rapidly leading to the emergence of more sophisticated nanostructured designs that require a careful understanding of the pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties of nanomedicines. In the coming years, with the advent of innovations in science and technology, a greater number of drugs based on nanotechnology are expected to be formulated. The development and advancement of nanomedicines will have a major impact on the pharmaceutical market. And this addition is made harmoniously to support the rational decisions being made regarding the Nanomedicine market.