Nanomedicines, as it goes from the name, are nanotechnology-based drugs, used for the treatment, diagnosis or prevention of various diseases. But is “nano” defined just by the size? According to FDA, nanomedicines are the products in the nanoscale range (meaning at least one size dimension being around 1-100 nm) that can exhibit chemical or physical properties, or biological effects which differ compared to larger-scale counterparts. At the same time FDA adds that products outside the mentioned nanoscale range also can be called nanomedicines if they can exhibit similar properties or phenomena attributable to a 1-100 nm scale dimension.
Usually, nanomedicines consist of a carrier and a drug, where the last is also called an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). However, sometimes the API can be transformed into a nanomedicine itself via manufacturing it in nanoscale size range ( stabilized nanoscale crystals). Notably, the last FDA approval of such nanocrystal drug was in 2015, which is the drug for a rare progressive lung disease. In this article we will focus on some nanomedicines approved by the FDA in the last 5 years, as well as discuss promising ongoing clinical trials.
