The big picture on nanomedicine: the state of investigational and approved nanomedicine products

Developments in nanomedicine are expected to provide solutions to many of modern medicine's unsolved problems, so it is no surprise that the literature contains many articles discussing the subject. However, existing reviews tend to focus on specific sectors of nanomedicine or to take a very forward-looking stance and fail to provide a complete perspective on the current landscape. This article provides a more comprehensive and contemporary inventory of nanomedicine products. A keyword search of literature, clinical trial registries, and the Web yielded 247 nanomedicine products that are approved or in various stages of clinical study. Specific information on each was gathered, so the overall field could be described based on various dimensions, including FDA classification, approval status, nanoscale size, treated condition, nanostructure, and others. In addition to documenting the many nanomedicine products already in use in humans, this study indentifies several interesting trends forecasting the future of nanomedicine. From the Clinical Editor: In this one of a kind review, the state of nanomedicine commercialization is discussed, concentrating only on nanomedicine-based developments and products that are either in clinical trials or have already been approved for use. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.