Nanomedicines leading the way

Nanotechnology offers multiple benefits in treating chronic diseases by site-specific, and target-oriented delivery of medicines. Nano-delivery systems utilized in drug development are very much still relatively new commercial approach. There are many opportunities and a few notable successes in targeted delivery of specific therapeutic agents in a controlled manner.

The continued development of nanomedicines has the potential to provide numerous benefits. These include improved efficacy, bioavailability, dose–response, targeting ability, personalization, and safety compared to conventional medicines. There are a number of outstanding applications of the nanomedicines treating of various diseases but development still poses its own set of complex challenges. Approximately 40% of drugs on the market place and a high percentage of APIs in development are poorly soluble. Optimization of drug solubility and BA of therapeutics stands as one of the top challenges faced by the pharmaceutical and biotech industry today.

By way of followup, this week’s available deck is titled “Applying Nanoparticle Delivery Approaches” from Sharad Murdande at Pfizer. Sharad was a past speaker at our Global Drug Bioavailability Enhancement Summit. This presentation overviews methods for nanosuspension preparation / characterization, attrition wet milling process for extemporaneous preparation of nanocrystalline suspensions for phase I clinical studies, factors affecting nanosuspension preparation and properties of compounds used in nanocrystalline suspension formulation. It also examines investigation thermodynamic and kinetic properties of crystalline nanoparticles and nanocrystal solubility method development with a host of examples.