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reportFocus Report 2010: Nanotechnology & Therapeutic Delivery
7.2 Executive Summary
The administration of certain types of modern drugs by conventional means often suffers from a number of drawbacks such as the limited solubility of the drug, poor distribution within the body, lack of selectivity, unfavourable pharmacokinetics and damage unintentionally inflicted on healthy tissues.
To try to overcome these problems, research on drug delivery forms a significant part of overall pharmaceutical research and the market for drug delivery has an estimated size of around 15% of the total pharmaceutical market, around $109 billion in 2008. The objectives of such research include:
• maintaining drug levels within their therapeutic ranges for longer periods;
• effectively targeting drug delivery to the desired site of action;
• varying the drug dose to achieve the optimum outcome
• facilitating the administration of active substances with otherwise short in vivo half-lives;
• reducing the overall amount of drug needed; and as a consequence,
• decreasing drug toxicity and side effects.
The application of nanotechnology is beginning to play an increasingly important role in therapeutic delivery as the characteristics of materials at the nanoscale, such as high surface area, solubility, and size can contribute towards achieving some of these objectives. Particular opportunities for nanotechnology in therapeutic delivery include:
• developing systems that improve the solubility and bioavailability of hydrophobic drugs;
• improving the delivery of protein-based drugs;
• improving the delivery and efficacy of drugs for common conditions such as asthma and osteoarthritis, and for diseases increasingly prevalent in a demographically-ageing population
• designing delivery vehicles that can improve the circulatory presence of drugs;
• delivering drugs across the blood-brain barrier;
• increasing specificity and decreasing toxicity;
• designing mechanisms to target drugs to specific cells or tissues resulting in lower overall systemic drug concentrations whilst maintaining the effective dose at the site of delivery;
• developing delivery systems for the slow or continual release of drugs, sometimes in conjunction with an implant or other medical device;
• improving vaccine adjuvants and delivery
• delivery of cells and cell products
• delivery of other agents, e.g. diagnostics, plastids
• developing novel nanostructures that can be used in specific applications, e.g. ocular, wound management, cancer therapy, neurology, orthopaedics;
• developing delivery systems that can be used in conjunction with medical external devices, e.g. for imaging or to supplying an external source of energy for drug targeting or activation/release.
• stabilizing the structure of the drug
• increasing the shelf life of drugs
• reducing the costs of drugs to healthcare systems
This report examines some of the opportunities that the application of nanotechnology may offer towards meeting these objectives and provides examples of companies known to be developing nanoscale drug delivery systems.
The report also provides an overview of the business opportunities and challenges concerning nanoscale drug delivery. For many pharmaceutical companies, the technology may present opportunities to extend the limited patent life or find new therapeutic indications for existing drug molecules and for others, the opportunity to develop entirely new applications and classes of drugs as well as a more individual patient-centred drug regimen approach.
The report also considers other challenges such as safety aspects and how drug regulatory systems will address nanotechnology as well as the economic challenges faced by healthcare providers due to price constraints and a demographically-ageing European population.
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Tags: Therapeutic delivery, Focus report, Health, Medicine, and Bionano