Safety and Toxicological Considerations of Nanomedicines: The Future Directions

Abstract

Nanomedicine, an emerging nanotechnology, imparts special biological features due to their quantum size and is a promising candidate for targeted drug delivery. At present, in spite of its novel applications in medical sciences, certain existing gaps still need to be addressed such as fate of nanoparticles and its toxicity assessment on human health. Behaviour of the entities post human body exposure and its deposition up to certain extent are some of the crucial factors to be considered for a successful treatment approach. Also, safety evaluation applicable for nanomedicine would be drastically different from bulk drugs due to their enormous size variation and they may respond differently depending upon their property. Due to inadequacy of data, multidisciplinary studies are being encouraged to understand toxicity of nanomedicines and adopt specific testing procedures or modifications in nanomaterials for safe design of nanomedicines. The current review offers a comprehensive understanding on pressing need of toxicological assessment of Nano medicines, underlying challenges, future prospects followed by regulatory aspects. In a nutshell, the present review aims to provide a thorough compilation and regressive analysis onto safety and toxicity considerations of nanomedicines.