NanomedicineCenter.com

EU to launch a huge nanomedicine project

Economy, regulations, ethics, patient attitudes, and communication — all aspects of nanomedicine will be covered and researched by the leading scientists from all over EU in order to ensure that an objective answer is found and confirmed — nanomedicine is able to change the way healthcare functions.

Sir John Beringer, who is the chairman of the project, shared his thoughts on the project: “Even if we don’t see the nanorobots of Fantastic Voyage fame for a few years, nanomedicine still has immense short term potential to impact all of our lives. Working at the nanoscale is already leading to new highly targeted medicines, improved imaging and diagnostics of disease and even a new generation of implantable sensors for monitoring your health.” He also said that he is very glad that the EU sees the importance of investing in this subfield of nanotechnology.
“In this project I believe we have managed to assemble a team with both the experience and understanding to create what I believe will be a unique report covering all aspects,” said Beringer. He said that their first task will be to measure the size of the current nanomedicine market. That has been almost impossible so far, because many companies “hide” that they use nanomedicine. He promised that the team will do their best in order to offer highly accurate data.

Nanoparticles are safe after all

Nanoparticles have outstanding properties, especially as far as illuminating tiny tumors or precisely delivering drugs is concerned. However, many have feared that they aren’t safe for use in humans, but it seems that they were wrong. Researchers from the University of California in San Diego created the first nanoparticle that has minimum toxic side effects.

Many nanoparticles that were designed so far are toxic and aren’t safe at all to use in humans. However, this one has almost no side effects. “This new design meets a growing need for non-toxic alternatives that have a chance to make it into the clinic to treat human patients,” said Michael Sailor, the leader of the research crew.

The scientists from San Diego tested their nanoparticles in mice, and saw tumors glow for several hours, then dim as the particles broke down. Levels dropped noticeably in a week and were undetectable after four weeks. Luminescent particles can reveal tumors too tiny to detect by other means or allow a surgeon to be sure all of a cancerous growth has been removed. These nanoparticles could also improve the drug delivery process. The cancer drug doxorubicin will stick to the pores and slowly escape as the silicon dissolves.
“The goal is to use the nanoparticles to chaperone the drug directly to the tumor, to release it into the tumor rather than other parts of the body,” said Sailor.

The details are published in Nature Materials.

Adapted from materials found at ucsd.edu

China continues to invest in biotech

The global economic crisis has hit every part of the industry, and almost closed the door for new investments. However, that doesn’t seem to be true as far China is concerned.
The Municipal Government of Beijing will invest over $70 million in the biotech industry. They will be funding major projects in the pharmaceutical and agricultural sector. Their plan is to increase the output in the coming years.

Source: seekingalpha.com/article/121906-china-biotech-in-review-investments-continue