Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology: Overcoming Drug Delivery Challenges in Contemporary Medicine

This review discusses the challenges associated with drug delivery and benefits of employing nanosystems in the delivery of small and macromolecular drugs. Poor biopharmaceutical characteristics of drug and biological barriers in the body affect the drug molecules reaching the intended disease site. For instance, solubility and permeability of a drug molecule affect its transport through the cellular membranes, while their stability in the biological environment dictates residence time and efficacy. Nanomedicine, an evaluation of nanotechnology, ferry the payload safely and effectively through several anatomical and physiological barriers to the target site. Besides, nanomedicine could be engineered to provide compound effect through ligand-mediated targeting and image guided drug delivery at disease site. With illustrative examples from scientific literature, the versatility of different nanosystems and their utility in disease therapy spanning from preclinical development to approved products is emphasized. Specific issues in drug approval including quality-by-design and regulatory aspects are discussed. Based on the advances in drug delivery and nanomaterial synthesis, there is a great future for nanomedicine in diagnosis and treatment of several complex diseases.