Frost & Sullivan puts some flesh on the bones of the idea that nanotechnology can be a profitable tool in drug development.
We have already pointed to the growing wave of interest in bringing together nanotechnology and medicine to develop new drugs. Now there is more on the subject from Frost & Sullivan: the consulting company has come up with some numbers.
In a new press release F&S says "the Drug Discovery Nanotechnology Market in Europe earned revenues of $174.2 million in 2005 and estimates this to reach $545.4 million in 2012".
The note suggests a number of ways in which the science of small things can help drug discovery. "The advent of nanotechnology-based products such as nano-arrays and dendrimers is anticipated to revolutionise treatments for diseases such as cancer."
The point is that stuff behaves differently at the nanoscale. As Amarpreet Dhiman, the leader of Frost & Sullivan’s Drug Discovery Team, puts it: “The small size, surface tailorability, improved solubility and multifunctionality of nano-particles are opening many new avenues of research for biologists." What this amounts to is that nano-materials could, says F&S, "interact with complex biological functions in novel ways that operate at the very scale of biomolecules".
Don't get too carried away by all this promise of things to come. "Nanotechnology-based solutions in drug discovery are still a long way from realisation. The challenge will be to ensure optimum safety and limited exposure, where the key elements for toxicity screening should include the physical and chemical characterisation of nano-materials, tissue cellular assays and animal studies."
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