Nanomedicine: an integrative approach (NANOMED)

Nanomedicine (NM) is regarded as one of the most promising applications of nanotechnology, as it would allow the development of tailored therapies, with a high level of selectivity and efficacy. Altough much research has been performed over the past decades, translation from academia to commercial application remains disappointingly low. Reasons that explain the current moderate success of NM are: (1) promising preclinical results are often poorly predictive for clinical safety and effectiveness, (2) the efficient, scalable and reproducible GMP production of nanocarriers has proven to be challenging and (3) regulatory frameworks are not yet fully equipped to efficiently facilitate the introduction of novel nanomedicines. These obstacles are often encountered since the developmental process from carrier design to clinical assessment is performed by a range of scientists from different backgrounds who have difficulty interacting and communicating with each other to clearly understand the necessary design criteria and the scope and limitations of NM.