|
Over the past 30 years, nanotechnology has shown great promise in advancing the fields of medicine, cosmetics, electronics, material sciences, information technology, energy production and engineering. During this time, public and private funding in the area of nanotechnology has increased to advance the science and commercialisation of nanotechnology-based products. For example, the US National Nanotechnology Initiative’s (NNI) 2010 budget is expected to reach $1.64 billion to support basic research, infrastructure development and technology transfer in the fields of healthcare, electronics, aeronautics, agriculture, food and energy. From this proposed budget, $326 million has been allocated to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to conduct nanotechnologyrelated medical research (1). According to the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN), over 800 nanotechnology-based consumer products are currently on the market, with a total value of $147 billion (2). The analysis firm Lux Research predicts that nanotechnology products will reach a total value of $3.1 trillion by 2015. Similar trends are also predicted for nanotechnology-based drug products, whose total market value may reach $200 billion by 2015 (3). It is expected that nanotechnology-based products will continue to be developed as novel and effective therapies move from the bench to the clinic.
NANOTECHNOLOGY: TODAY
The concept of nanotechnology in targeted therapy was first introduced by Paul Ehrlich, the 1908 Nobel Laureate. Ehrlich conceived the notion of ‘magic bullets’: specific compounds that seek out the disease causing organism and destroy it without harming other parts of the body. This is the promise that today’s nanotechnology drug products offer for diagnosing, imaging and treating diseases. The US NNI defines nanotechnology as: “The understanding and control of matter at dimensions between approximately one and 100 nanometers where unique phenomena enable novel applications” (4). |
