Drug delivery systems

Packaging already established active ingredients in nanomaterials can lead to improved properties and achieve more stability, enhanced efficacy and/or reduced side effects due to target- or tissue-directed delivery to the site of action. They can accommodate, protect, transport and make available unstable, non-membrane or poorly soluble active ingredients, as well as reduce toxic effects due to packaging of the active ingredient when they act as carriers.

Due to their small size, chemical nature and appropriate surface modification, they are able to cross biological barriers such as the blood-brain barrier, the olfactory epithelium, the intestinal mucosa or the skin. Furthermore, their surfaces can be functionalised with molecules that protect against recognition by the immune system and enable selective accumulation at the site of action (targeted delivery) or they can release the active ingredient into the target cells in response to external or site-specific stimuli at the site of action (triggered release). Nanoscale formulations can also play a role in so-called "controlled release" systems, where a temporally and locally predefined release of a therapeutic agent over a longer period of time is aimed for.