Micro and Nanotechnology Adoption by the Pharmaceutical Industry Essay

Micro and nano applied science is starting to test promise in the pharmaceutical industry. The devil key questions in this field atomic get along 18 what is nanotech and bent all medicines nanotech after all, they atomic number 18 in the nano size of it range. These gage be answered fairly simply Nanotechnology is where the nano-size of a gist affects its activity the size placing the substance at the interface between quantum and existent effect. The classic example to demonstrate these effects is that of gold nanoparticles. Bulk gold is insoluble and metallic-yellow in colour. However, once the gold is develop as a nanoparticle it is soluble and the size of the particle determines its colour from bright spicy to vivid red.Two key aras where nanotechnology is presentation promise in the pharmaceuticals industry atomic number 18 tools for drug discovery, and secondly in saying and delivery systems.In the development of tools to apply drug discovery, nanotechnol ogy is developing a slip to move away from spicy throughput to senior high content check, where greater information on fewer compounds is achieved. As our k right offledge close to drug-target interactions increases, it is becoming app arnt that high-volume/low-content screening atomic number 50 miss extremely interesting interactions and effects. For example, SPR biosensors washbowl detect a ligand bind ill-treat and footprint the binding constants. But it mucklenot measure surface stresses caused by binding, which are an beta factor for example in antibiotic drug efficacy against MRSA and VRE. Here nanomechanical cantilevers fix been shown to be effective in providing extremely picturesque information that can explain the difference of opinion between various drugs that appear to earn the same binding kinetics.iThe move to high content screening has been slow receivable to the large investments in high throughput screening laboratories and so unused systems emer gency to be compatible. However, where systems are compatible with these techniques for example use 96 well plate platforms, word meaning is possible. As a result, improvements and acceptation is currently iterative, rather than revolutionary, further it is happening.With regards to nanotechnology in expression and delivery science, there are a number of earlyish adopters of nanotechnology in the pharmaceutical industry. Table 1 shows a number of types of nanoparticle readyings that are already approved for marketing.The skilful list of approved nano-enabled merchandises is very undersized and those that fall in made it to the market are generally reformulations of existing generic drugs. We are still awaiting the second-generation nanodrug, where the nano-effect is integral to the crossroad activity.Nanotechnology appears to be following the classic technology adoption curve as shown in variant 1. This shows the bell-shaped adoption curve for whatsoever technology, overlaid by the technology acceptance line. Nanotechnology appears to have passed through the hype and trough and is now starting to be slowly adopted.It appears that the problem for nanotechnology in formulation is one of risk. Companies need to get their products to market right away to pass on as much market exclusivity epoch as possible not to subtract their investment, as this is a sunk price, plainly to recoup the cost of developing future(a) drugs, the cost of which is becoming ever more expensive. The Tufts aggregate for Drug Development estimated that the cost of bringing a single drug to market was in the order of $1.2 one thousand million in 2008, compared to $802 million in 2000.ii,iii accustomed these issues, companies wont adopt in the altogether technology unless they know that the technology has a sort and fast route to approval.This is in particular poignant in drug formulation and other rate-limiting activities that occur post-patent filing. Once a patent is filed, the clock is ticking on the products life. If a product is going to be a $1billion a year blockbuster, lost revenues will be at least $2.7 million for every(prenominal) day a product is held from the market. This produces a catch 22 scenario no-one will labour the risk to demonstrate a new technology, especially if it is competing with existing and proven methods, so no-one will see a unclouded adoption path and use it.This is resonating of the fledgling biotech industry 15-20 years ago. drug familiarity was focussed on small molecules and didnt want to risk bringing into their portfolio comparatively unstable products, with complex manufacturing methods and which were without a clear regulatory passage. Now however, many conventional large-pharma refer to themselves as biopharma companies and Amgen and Genentech (prior to the Roche purchase) are in the top twenty pharma by revenue.Early adopters, such as Abraxis and Elan, have started to clear a pathway to a pproval, but as yet no company has developed a true nanodrug ie one which was conceived as a nano-enabled product from first principles as opposed to victimization nano-formulation on existing products.Nanotech has a roofy to offer the pharmaceuticals industry and if it follows previous technology examples such as biotech, the successful early adopters will reap the rewards. It still has a number of hurdles to leap, such as a clear regulatory pathway and a demonstration of value supra and beyond current technologies, before it can become mainstream. However, there are of import efforts by industry and governments to help it to cut through the technology adoption gap quickly and ensure it can assist in developing the next generation of products that are needed to solve some of the profound unmet medical needs faced by patients and healthcare professionals.i Ndieyira, J. W. et al. Nanomechanical detection of antibioticmucopeptide binding in a model for superbug drug resistance. Nature Nanotech. 3, 691-696 (2008). ii panorama 2008, Tufts Center for Drug Discovery (Available at http//csdd.tufts.edu/InfoServices/ OutlookReportsRequest.asp) iii Outlook 2000, Tufts Center for Drug Discovery (Available at http//csdd.tufts.edu/InfoServices/ OutlookReportsRequest.asp)