The white paper, not to be confused with the full market report which will set you back 3000 GBP (or 5000 USD), offers an 18 pp. overview of  nanotechnology in drug delivery (NDD). Excerpted from the NDD white paper,

The advantages over current treatment modalities include lower drug toxicities, improved bioavailability, reduced economic costs of treatment, and increased patient adherence to treatment. The medical management of malignancies has already been greatly impacted by nanotechnology, but soon other medical specialties will utilize these novel forms of drug delivery to achieve optimal treatment success. Additionally, innovative research and development of more therapeutically effective carriers will continue including improved forms of polymer– drug conjugates, liposomes, dendrimers, micelles, polymeric vesicles and nanocapsules. Finally, implantable drug delivery systems will open up many more opportunities for nanotechnology utilization. (p. 6 PDF)

The promise of lower toxicities and better performance is compelling both from a potential user’s (patient) perspective and a healer’s perspective. As for investors, opening up new therapies can be a lucrative business as Cientifica notes in its white paper,

Forecasts indicate the nanotechnology market will reach close to a trillion dollars by 2015, presenting investors with a unique opportunity. However, the market for applications of nanotechnology is complex to understand, multi disciplinary and highly segmented. It is therefore vital for any would-be investor to gain an understanding of which market sectors nanotechnology is likely to impact most profoundly in the near term.

Since we now know most (if not all) biological processes occur at the nanoscale, the application of life science principles – studying the causes of biological phenomena at the molecular level – means that medical and biomedical research is increasingly using a bottom-up (rather than the topdown) approach. The low bioavailability resulting from traditional oral and intravenous drug delivery methods and the market forces at work in the pharmaceutical industry, where patents expire after a relatively short period of time unless a novel form of drug delivery is developed that will extend the patent, are two major forces that will fuel the growth of the nanotech drug delivery market. The third factor at play is a combination of improved global health and a correspondingly dramatic increase in the size of the global aging population. [emphases mine] (p. 4 PDF)

I’m a little more conservative than the folks at Cientifica; I’m not yet ready to say that we ‘know’ most biological processes occur at the nanoscale since we are not yet able to test the hypothesis at smaller scales. I am convinced by the ‘low bioavailability’ and ‘global health/aging’ trends and I’m happy to see the shorter patent period mentioned.

Brief overview: Patents are a problematic area as there are arguments that current patent regimes are stifling innovation (Do Patents Encourage or Hinder Innovation? The Case of the Steam Engine; Patent Law Is Highly Controversial) while others suggest longer patent periods are needed (Drug Patents Stifling Innovation by Financially Straining Pharmaceutical Companies).

I don’t entirely buy the argument that pharmaceutical companies pour all of their profits into research and struggle financially as a consequence. (Are there any large pharmaceutical companies in serious financial trouble? Please let me know as I’ve not heard of any.) In fact, this shorter patent period seems to be stimulating the current interest and research into nanotechnology-enabled therapies. This is exactly what the patent system was designed to do in the first place, stimulate innovation.

In general, I found the white paper quite useful in that it helped me to better understand some of the material I scan on a daily basis. I particularly appreciated this breakdown,

The report has discovered that there are three areas of medicine where nanotechnology shows the greatest promise:

i. Nanotechnology in drug delivery;

ii. Nanotechnology in medical and biomedical diagnostics;

iii. Nanotechnology in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering (p. 5 PDF)

I am surprised that Cientifica considers nanotechnology in drug delivery as the most promising area for investors as it seems to me that the diagnostics area has more products close to commercialization but my view is limited, there are other factors at play and, also, investing is not my area of expertise.

From a marketing perspective, my hat’s off to the folks at Cientifica for writing a white paper that provides a good overview and acts as a teaser for the full report.

Any other quibbles I have with this material are philosophical and addressed to the industry sector. I wish there was less military-influenced language used. For example (excerpted from the white paper),

The “magic bullet” concept, first theorized by Paul Ehrlich in 1891, represents the first early description of the drug-targeting paradigm. The aim of drug targeting is to deliver drugs to the right place, at the right concentration, for the right period of time. As drug characteristics differ substantially in chemical composition, molecular size, hydrophilicity, and protein binding, the essential characteristics that identify efficacy are highly complex. All of these factors are investigated to bring a new compound to market although only a fraction reaches active clinical use. (p. 13 PDF)

The ‘magic bullet’ and drug-targeting concept is from the 19th century (or possibly earlier). Can’t we find a language that is more reflective of our own age and our current understanding of biology and technology? That challenge is for writers, artists, scholars and others who help to define our understanding of the world and our place in it.