Abstract

Background: Nanomedicine, defined as the application of nanotechnology for the prevention, cure and diagnosis of diseases, has emerged as one of the most exciting tools in the medical field for direct benefit to human health. Nanomedicine aims to engineer the materials at nanoscale to develop new drugs, delivery systems in a way to mimic or understand the cellular processes at molecular level for therapeutics of diseases. Based on their applications, nanomedicines include nano drug delivery systems, nano-diagnostics, nano-theranostics, and nano-medical implants.

Objectives: The current manuscript will provide a global scenario about different nanomedicines and their applications, the overall market, and the ongoing developments in their regulation by different regulatory bodies.

Discussion: The different properties displayed by materials at nano-scale in terms of size, chemical reactivity, solubility, mobility, magnetic and optical properties open the ways for their utilization in the field of medicine. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved products using nanotechnology under different product categories. The last two decades have seen a tremendous growth in the development of nanomedicine-based products in global regulatory markets particularly in the area of drug delivery systems and diagnosis.

Keywords: Nano-drug delivery systems, nanomedicine, nanotechnology, nanotheranostics, quality and safety, regulatory aspects.

Graphical Abstract