Nanotechnology May Transform Europe's Drug-Discovery Market

The introduction of nanotechnology-based substances such as nano-arrays and dendrimers is expected to change the way clinicians treat patients for diseases such as cancer. The knowledge that the nano-scale compounds have specific characteristics as needed to solve significant medical obstacles and accommodate yet unmet medical needs is driving nano-medical studies.

Increasingly, research is focusing on the unique chemical and physical characteristics of nano-sized compounds to develop new applications that improve human health.

Frost & Sullivan (Palo Alto, CA, USA), an international growth consultancy company, revealed that the drug-discovery nanotechnology market in Europe earned revenues of U.S.$174.2 million in 2005 and are estimated to reach $545.4 million in 2012.

"Within the realm of drug discovery and development, nanotechnology focuses mainly on improving diagnostic methods as well as developing superior drug formulations and drug delivery systems to enhance disease therapy,” noted Frost & Sullivan's drug discovery team leader, Dr. Amarpreet Dhiman. "The small size, surface tailorability, improved solubility and multifunctionality of nano-particles are opening many new avenues of research for biologists.”

The unique properties of nano-materials offer the capability to interact with complicated biologic processes in novel ways that work at the scale of biomolecules. This quickly growing field allows cross-disciplinary researchers the opportunity to create and develop multifunctional nano-particles that can target, diagnose, and treat diseases such as cancer.

Whereas nanotechnology products are certainly promising, one key issue that will have to be addressed is their long-term stability. Specifically, nano-particles and nano-materials used for drug discovery applications can become a problem if they degrade too quickly or if they remain in the body for long periods. The need, therefore, is to make sure that they meet optimum levels of stability.

The ability of nano-materials to interact with biologic organisms leads to the possibility that they may be damaging to humans and the environment. Current knowledge of the possible toxicity of nano-particles is limited, but recent studies demonstrate that some of these substances may enter the human body and become toxic at the cellular level, in various body fluids, tissues, and/or organs.

"The impact of nano-particle interactions with the body are dependent on their size, chemical composition, surface structure, solubility, shape, and how the individual nano-particles amass together,” explained Dr. Dhiman. "Nano-particles may modify the way cells behave and the potential routes of exposure include the gastrointestinal tract, skin, and lungs.”

Nanotechnology-based systems in drug discovery are still quite a ways from reality. The challenge will be to provide optimum safety and limited exposure, where the major components for toxicity screening should include the physical and chemical characterization of nano-materials, tissue cellular assays, and animal studies.

"Nanotechnology has an extremely interdisciplinary character having a broad range of disciplines and the industry must increase awareness about the technology and its potential to encourage dialogue between nanotechnology and other communities biologists such as chemistry, genomic engineering, and biotechnology,” stated Dr. Dhiman. "By collaborating together extensively, the complexity of combining disciplines in nanotechnology will generate new businesses and help accelerate critical advances.”



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