Research status and development trend of iron-based nano-medicine

Iron-based nano-medicine (IBN), as one of the few inorganic metal nano-medicines that currently have been approved for clinical applications, has become available to use in areas such as MRI contrast agent, intravenous iron supplementation, and magnetically-induced hyperthermia. Given its distinctive nano-performance and magnetic property, coupled by the ever-evolving research in modern biology medicine, it calls for more rigorous and systemic research on the preparation process and standard of quality; an increasing need of innovating the testing mechanism with specific regard to the analysis and detection method of iron-based components; and a pressing need to establish the quality control system accordingly. Meantime, the novel iron-based nano-medicine is also developing fast and a number of clinical trials, specifically targeted at new usages, are under active development. This review summarizes iron-based nano-medicine in regard to its existing classification, applications, primary preparation techniques, and product standards and forecasts its development trend based on the research status of new IBN in clinical translation.