Recent Patents on Nanomedicine - Volume 2, Issue 1, 2012

We are very proud to present the first issue of Recent Patents in Nanomedicine for the year 2012, another new and exciting enterprise by Bentham Science Publishers. The readers shall find a wide, and exclusive variety of topics in this Journal, ranging from very fundamental studies of the nature of nano-bio interface, key for understanding biomedical phenomena at the nanoscale, to the very applied use of drug delivery systems in eyes and brain, being emerging areas with great potential. We have also included the details of some of the most innovative technologies recently developed by employing gold nanoparticles, microspheres and various polymers and bioploymers as drug carriers and/or smart systems, which are likely to open interesting venues for R&D in the coming years in the field, as we want the journal to keep our readers not only updated with the latest development, but also to offer them some clues on the technology to come. Finally, the Editorial team and myself are indebted to the authors, reviewers and readers of Recent Patents on Nanomedicine, for the faith, commitment and high quality job, which made this possible publication.

Nanomedicine is one of the most promising drug delivery technologies. Treatment of anterior or posterior segment ocular diseases has always been a challenging task. The primary constraint to ophthalmic drug delivery is to deliver therapeutics at the target tissue without altering protective physiological mechanisms of the eye. In the last decade, research advancements in the field of nanotechnology have met many challenges for the treatment of ocular diseases. These nanomedicines have been employed to improve stability, solubility and ocular bioavailability, and also to reduce eye irritation caused by drug candidate or the formulation. This review article is focused on the patents issued for ophthalmic formulations particularly nanomedicines during the period of 2000-2011. The patents on nanomedicines are classified in different categories such as liposomes, polymeric nanoparticles, dendrimers, micelles and nanoemulsion. Moreover, this review article also discusses the patents in which two approaches (such as nanoparticles suspended in contact lens, nanoemulsion in situ gelling system and nanoparticles delivered via iontophoresis) are combined to achieve the best formulation for ocular treatments.

The latest development in nanotechnology provides nanoparticles with tunable physical properties that, once conjugated with proteins, produce effective nanoplatforms for a wide range of medicine applications. In this review, we discuss the impact of nanoparticle-protein bioconjugates on interacting biological environments. In order to provide exhaustive guidelines for the design and engineering of such systems, here, we present an overview on: (a) the current understanding of the interface between nanoparticle and protein and between the nanoparticle-protein conjugate and living organisms; (b) the available methods for conjugating proteins to nanoparticles; (c) potential applications of nanoparticleprotein in diagnostics, protein therapy and regenerative medicine; (d) recent patents based on nanoparticle-protein. The patents description highlights the enormous capability of bioconjugates in nanomedicine applicative fields.

Discoveries in the field of nanotechnology are triggering a revolution in medicine, by providing a profusion of potential and actual applications of nanosized objects in the diagnosis and treatment of several diseases. This trend is also evident in the increasing number of patents recorded annually. In particular, nanoparticles able to find a target and release their payload upon a specific stimulus are highly attractive for the diagnostics and therapeutics, for example, of cancer and gene diseases. In this view, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) stood out as suitable platforms for the development of efficient delivery and release systems. AuNPs are biocompatible, and can be easily synthesized and functionalized. The capability of tuning their size and geometry allows manipulating their optical and physical properties. Engineering their coating controls the stability, targeting and release features. In this review several patents concerning release strategies based on gold nanostructures are reported, together with a discussion about their operating processes and their mutual advantages and disadvantages.

This review summarizes the patents that have been reported in the last ten years on nanoparticles for the delivery of drugs to the brain. Nanoparticles are promising brain delivery modalities that can be coated or loaded with drug, or conjugated with various enhancers; they also demonstrate high stability compared with other nanocarriers. There are various pathways by which nanoparticles enable drug delivery into the brain across the blood brain barrier, which does not allow the passage of most therapeutic agents. Based on an assessment of recent patents, these pathways include, (1) through attaching or containing an enhancer to pass the BBB, (2) brain targeting could be achieved by comprising an agent that is able to deliver the drug into the specified brain tissue and (3) controlling of nanoparticle delivery by external stimuli. It can be concluded that brain delivery is still at its infancy as there is still a huge prospect to investigate enhancement mechanisms.

Nanomedicine addresses issues such as the use of nanotechnology, nanomaterials, and nanosensors for advanced medical applications, by utilizing the improved chemical, physical and biological properties of nanostructured materials. Polymers and biopolymers have been effectively used to formulate various types of nanoparticles such as micelles, liposomes, dendrimers, and hydrogels, which are mostly used as imaging and therapeutic agents. The demanding process of developing new biodegradable polymers mainly looks towards to synthesize copolymers to embed hydrophilic segments in the hydrophobic chains of the polymers, and in turn to create nanoparticles having unique delivery characteristics (i.e. specific targets and proper release rates). Such efforts are continuously disclosed in various patents either from drug industry or from academia. The present brief review is mainly focused on the previous types of polymeric nanoparticles as drug delivery systems and related current technologies of synthesis, along with recent patented disclosing methods of novel polymer architectures.

Mucoadhesion is the most vital concept that is widely utilized in most of the novel drug delivery systems via mucosal membrane of buccal, nasal, digestive tract, etc when administered through oral, nasal or any other route. This review deals with the basic concept of sustained release mucoadhesive microspheres, their preparation methods, recent patents on sustained release microspheres and finally the various marketed formulations of microspheres. The mucoadhesive microspheres prepared by different techniques are widely used in sustained delivery of drugs with improved bioavailability and targeting efficacy. The listed patents contain the methods developed for microsphere preparation along with the encapsulated material that needs to be delivered. In short the patents listed here also gave the information of the polymers utilized for the microsphere preparation along with their therapeutic efficacy.

The patents annotated in this section have been selected from various patent databases. The patents annotated in this section are relevant to the articles published in this journal issue, categorized by therapeutic areas/targets and therapeutic agents related to Nanomedicine.