Towards safe nanomedicines
Tiny particles that are effective against cancer or can easily penetrate any interface within our body are a great hope for medicine. But what happens to nanoparticles in tissue and whether they ultimately trigger diseases themselves has hardly been researched. Empa researchers have now worked out guidelines for nanomedicine within an international consortium in order to be able to develop safe nanoparticles.
The use of nanomaterials for medicine is a trend, for example in cancer therapy or in the diagnostics of Diseases. For example, biomaterials such as tiny fat bubbles called liposomes are loaded with drugs to treat breast cancer, pancreatic cancer or Kaposi's sarcoma associated with HIV. Among the inorganic nanomaterials, for example, is colloidal silver, which inhibits the growth of Pathogens inhibitors, are in use. Other nanoproducts stimulate the immune system or transport iron into the body. The tiny size of the individual units, in the range of millionths of a millimeter, is precisely the reason for their billion-dollar potential on the world market.
Companies monitor the situation
Artificially produced nanomaterials such as gold, silver or iron oxide particles are becoming increasingly complex. However, common regulations on the handling and risk potential of pharmaceuticals hardly apply to nanoparticles. "SMEs in the Pharmaceutical sector in Switzerland are currently watching developments closely in order to be able to use them for new products," says Peter Wick, Empa researcher and coordinator of the international "GoNanoBioMat" consortium of nanomaterials and risk research experts. With the goal of promoting research into safe medical nanoparticles, nanomaterials researchers have recently developed methods and guidelines for risk analysis of the tiny medicines of the future.
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