Nanotechnology within medicine, or specifically nanomedicine, has become an exciting avenue for the field of pharmaceuticals.
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This area of research has gained momentum since its introduction in 1959 by American physicist and Nobel laureate Richard Feynman. It can be said that the versatility of this field is almost unlimited, with continuous discoveries for innovative applications by researchers, which has also included the discovery of drugs.
Drug discovery
Drug discovery refers to the process of designing new drugs. This can be a relatively long process that can take approximately 12 years or more to complete, from the stage of identifying a target, such as a receptor, a gene, or a protein, to the stage of which drug is approved and ready for marketing.
While this field has made important contributions to society within medicine and human health, it also faces many obstacles.
Challenges
The development of a drug is considered a complex process, the first stages consist of the selection of active compounds, which must also have a therapeutic effect on the chosen target.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reported five stages in the drug development process, which include: (i) discovery and development, (ii) preclinical research, (iii) clinical research, (iv) drug review of the FDA and (v) Monitoring the safety of drugs after FDA marketing.
The discovery of new drugs depends on new knowledge or information about a disease process. These may include numerous amounts of testing on molecular compounds to find a beneficial effect on disease, improvements in existing treatments that have adverse effects, as well as new technologies that can provide new and innovative methods to target specific areas of concern within the body.
What may begin as a large volume of drug candidates in the early stages is slowly reduced to a small number of compounds that have a real potential to gain FDA approval for the disease, for which it is intended.
Another challenge in this area is the cost, with the development of a ‘new molecular entity’, such as a small compound, or a ‘new biological entity’, which refers to biological drugs that include antibodies or gene therapies. with a high expense. The development of this type of drug is expected to cost approximately $ 2.6 billion.
As expected, this can be a major hurdle for many pharmaceutical companies, and even more so for new pharmaceutical companies that may have underestimated the large volume of molecules (and associated price) needed to produce a new drug treatment during each stage of development.
Increasing the optimization of high-capacity drug formulation is also a challenge for researchers to ensure that a significant volume of the drug is available and well distributed with each dose; this is also related to the hurdle of optimizing the most appropriate drug delivery system for each formulation.
These challenges may be a burden for researchers, but with the advancement of nanotechnology, a promising solution can be developed for the pharmaceutical industry.
Promote drug discovery with nanotechnology
Nanotechnology, which uses particles and materials at the nanometer scale of 1 and 100 nm, can play an important role in pharmaceuticals, as these particles are smaller than conventional drug molecules, allowing entry through of biological barriers that would otherwise be an obstacle.
This size is significant because the passage of biological barriers such as the blood-brain barrier, which prevents many drugs from crossing the brain, can allow the treatment of a number of brain-related diseases and disorders. An example of this includes brain cancer, such as glioblastoma multiforme, a common brain tumor that is associated with a poor prognosis. This brain cancer can be described as incurable and has an average survival rate of 15 months, with only 5.5% surviving five years after receiving a diagnosis.
Increasing the ability to target brain-related diseases such as glioblastomas by including nanotechnology in drug formulation, or nanoformulation, may increase the number of drugs approved to treat incurable diseases.
The discovery of drugs through this innovative approach can be enhanced, as this can allow precise targeting of receptors, proteins and other biological molecules, improving the developmental efficiency and delivery of drugs. This can also be improved due to nanoparticles having higher solubility and surface functionalization, allowing ligands to be placed on their surfaces to allow higher levels of orientation.
Future perspectives
Since the 1970s, there have been approximately more than 60 approved drug applications that include nanomaterials, which have been gaining strength over the years.
Nanomaterial-based drug formulations may include different biological pathways than a conventional small-molecule drug, and subsequently this may influence safety and quality and even drug efficacy. This challenge would require further research into the complexity of nanoformulations and how this may affect a patient in vivo.
These challenges led to the use of the Nanotechnology Risk Assessment Working Group in 2014 to assess the potential effect of nanotechnology on drugs, with the experience of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER). from the FDA.
This development has led to the development of pharmaceutical standards, and in 2017 the CDER introduced a guide for medicines and biological products that include nanomaterials. Targeting for this innovative category may lead to the development of a larger volume of drugs for diseases and disorders that were previously difficult to treat, such as brain cancer.
Continue reading: Nanotechnology applications with bioactive charge for drug discovery.
References and additional reading
Bayda, S., Adeel, M., Tuccinardi, T., Cordani, M. and Rizzolio, F., 2019. The history of nanoscience and nanotechnology: from chemical and physical applications to nanomedicine. Molecules, 25 (1), p.112. Available at: 10.3390 / molecules25010112
Kanderi T, Gupta V. Glioblastoma Multiforme. [Updated 2021 Nov 20]. A: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 gener-. Available from:
Kumar Dash, D., Kant Panik, R., Kumar Sahu, A. and Tripathi, V., 2020. Paper of Nanobiotechnology in Drug Discovery, Development and Molecular Diagnostic. Applications of Nanobiotechnology ,. Available at: 10.5772 / intechopen.92796
Mohs, R. and Greig, N., 2017. Drug discovery and development: role of basic biological research. Alzheimer’s and amp; Dementia: translational research and amp; Clinical Interventions, 3 (4), pp.651-657. Available at: 10.1016 / j.trci.2017.10.005
Shi, J., Votruba, A., Farokhzad, O. and Langer, R., 2010. Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery and Tissue Engineering: From Discovery to Applications. Nano Letters, 10 (9), pp.3223-3230. Available at: 10.1021 / nl102184c
US Food and Drug Administration. 2022. Step 1: Discovery and development. [online] Available at:
US Food and Drug Administration. 2022. Advancing the science of nanotechnology in drug development. [online] Available at: https://www.fda.gov/drugs/news-events-human-drugs/advancing-science-nanotechnology-drug-development
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