NANOCRYSTAL TECHNOLOGY AND DRUG DELIVERY

Products of nanotechnology are expected to revolutionize modern medicine, as evidenced by recent scientific advances and global initiatives to support nanotechnology and nanomedicine research. The field of drug delivery is a direct beneficiary of these advancements. Poor aqueous solubility is clearly recognized by the pharmaceutical industry as a major problem. The great challenge for the pharmaceutical development is to create new formulation approaches and drug-delivery systems to overcome solubility problems of these drug candidates which are also often associated with poor oral bioavailability. The nanocrystal technology will continue to thrive as a useful tool in pharmaceutics for the improvement of drug solubility, oral absorption, and hence, bioavailability. Almost any drug can be reduced in size to the nanometer range. The novel and potential applications of nanotechnology in pharmaceutics are; development of diagnostic tools, formulation of drug carrier systems and gene therapy.