Nanomedicine applies the tools and knowledge of nanotechnology for the diagnosis and treatment of various diseases such as cancer, and infectious diseases. Examples include the use of nanosize materials such as nanoparticles that are biocompatible and nanorobots for the purpose of diagnosis, sensing and delivery of medicines. This new discipline is also currently being deployed to develop smart pills and for treating cancer. Nanomed approaches have also been studied and applied in developing COVID-19 vaccines.
Nanomedicine and smart pills
The term ‘smart pills’ refers to nano-level electronic devices that are shaped and designed like pharmaceutical pills but perform more advanced functions such as sensing, imaging and drug delivery.
- The Atmo Gas Capsule is an advanced smart pill, developed by Atmo Biosciences, which when ingested examines the gases in the human gut to report any disorders. Its sensors can help detect the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the body, as well as the presence of any harmful substances. Its applications include diagnosing gastrointestinal disorders, detecting malignancies in the digestive tract, and tracking food sensitivities to enable personalized diet and nutrition plans
- Smart Sensor Capsules is another example of nanomedicine application. MIT is creating these to prevent the need for injecting drugs into the stomach. These are Jell-O-like pills which upon ingestion swell to the size of a soft and moist ping pong ball enabling it to stay in the stomach for a longer period of time. The device is able to track ulcers, cancers, and other GI conditions
- PillCam, a capsule with a miniature video camera, and dose-tracking pills developed by Medtronic is fitted with a tiny camera and light inside to capture the colours of the GI tract, especially the small intestine. It transmits images via an antenna with the physician syncing the recorder to the receiver tool before the capsule is ingested
Nanomedicine and cancer treatment
Several nanomedicine products such as Doxil by Johnson & Johnson, and Vyxeos by Jazz Pharmaceuticals are available in the market to treat cancers. Doxil was the first cancer nanomedicine approved by the US FDA in 1995 and since then it has been used to treat adult cancers including ovarian cancer, multiple myeloma and Karposi’s sarcoma (a rare type of cancer that often affects people with immune deficiency such as HIV and AIDS).
There have also been some newer developments in cancer detection and treatment, involving nanomedicine.
- CytImmune is one of the major companies doing research on nanomedicines in cancer treatment. It has successfully completed a Phase I clinical trial of CYT-6091 for solid tumours. Pharmacodynamics data from a preclinical study in solid tumours were also presented at the 55th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO 2019)
- NanoFlares are part of a new nanomedicine approach being used to develop a new method for detecting cancer cells in the bloodstream. NanoFlares are particles that generate light when they bind to specific genetic targets in cancer cells. This helps in accurate and non-invasive cancer cell detection throughout the body
- Researchers at UC San Diego (UCSD) are developing a method to identify pancreatic cancer by collecting and analyzing nano-sized exosomes for the presence of specific cancerous markers
Potential of nanomedicine in COVID-19 treatment
Many CoV-related patents have been reported in the field of nanotechnology. StatNano’s statistical analysis on the data collected from the Orbit patent database up to February 13, 2020, shows that 24 patent offices have issued a total of 9,217 patents mentioning coronaviruses and nanotechnology to date. This highlights nanotech’s potential in COVID-19 diagnosis and treatment.
Currently, BioNTech/Pfizer’s “BNT162b2” and Moderna’s “mRNA1273” are the two vaccines that use nanoparticles and are mRNA-based vaccines for COVID-19. The genetic materials are protected with lipid nanoparticles as lipids do not dissolve in body fluids and can protect the mRNA until it enters the cytoplasm and becomes transcribed.
What the future holds
Nanomedicine has gained significant momentum in the field of biomedicine. There are more than 50 nanomaterial-based FDA-approved products that are commercially available. These can be in the form of drug formulations, diagnostic/imaging particles and sensors. They have also made their way in food nutraceuticals and other pharmaceuticals.
Currently, nanomedicine has a long way to go to overcome regulatory, environmental implications and other innovation-associated challenges, such as lack of regulatory pathways or skepticism by the scientific and medical communities. With more research and development, however, showcasing the long-term impact of nanotech, its applications in medicine and nanomedicine-based treatments will inevitably grow in number.
#Nanotechnology #Nanomedicine
Sources
https://www.biopharminternational.com/view/can-nanotechnology-deliver-big-drug-benefits
https://www.futuremedicine.com/doi/10.2217/nnm-2020-0247
https://www.precisionnanosystems.com/resources-and-community/what-is-nanomedicine
https://medcraveonline.com/JCPCR/nanomedicine—the-future-of-cancer-treatment-a-review.html
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-030-41464-1_19