Conclusions - Nanomaterials for Medical Applications - page 408

NMs can be used to create precisely targeted drugs that are engineered to locate
and sit on specific proteins and nucleic acids associated with the disease and/
or disorders. 6,10,53,54,61,64,66,88-110 . These NMs can also be used to deliver small
organic molecules and peptides at effective sites of action to carry out their func-
tion more effectively, protected from degradation, immune attack, and shielded
to pass through barriers that block the passage of large molecules.
At present, nanoparticles are being tested for various biomedical applications
to learn if they can help facilitate sensitive and accurate medical diagnostics as
well as for effective therapeutics. More specifically for drug delivery purposes,
the use of nanoparticles is attracting increasing attention due to their unique
capabilities and their negligible side effects not only in cancer therapy but also
in the treatment of other ailments. Among all types of nanoparticles, biocompat-
ible superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) with proper surface
architecture and conjugated targeting ligands/proteins have attracted a great
deal of attention for drug delivery applications.
Chapter 1 introduced the various chapters of the topic with the intention to
help the reader discover, manipulate, and understand the unique properties of
matter at the nanoscale level in order to inspire creativity toward the develop-
ment of new NMs and new capabilities for potential applications across all
fields of science, engineering, technology, and medicine. The topic is intended
to inspire new innovations that will bring about the realization of the much
potential of nanoscale science and technology that are predicted to have an
enormous potential economic impact specifically in the various areas of
medicine.
9.2 MARKET POTENTIAL
As described, nanotechnology has continued to show enormous growth and has
encompassed various fields of research and industry. The research activities
involving NMs have seen unsurpassed growth over the past few years. Thou-
sands of nano-enabled products are now enjoying a huge impact in the global
market and it continues to grow with a global nanomedicine market that reached
$63.8 B in 2010 and $72.8 B in 2011. 111 The BCC research also predicted that
this NMs market is expected to grow to $130.9 B by 2016 at compound annual
growth rate (CAGR) of 12.5% in 2011-2016. The applications of NMs for the
central nervous system alone are expected to reach $46.7 B by 2016 at a CAGR
of 10.8% in 2011-2016 according to the same report. 111
Many nano-enabled medical products have entered the market to date and
as the applications grow and infiltrate complicated diseases such as all kinds of
cancer, cardiac, and neurodegenerative disorders, infection, tissue engineering
etc., the market is predicted to reach considerable growth in the near future.
This has been shown in the application of nanoparticles in biomedical sciences
that posted a year-on-year growth of over 37% in 2009. 112 In 2013, this area is
expected to close at US$ 750 M with a CAGR of over 30% since 2010. 112 The