Identifying recent trends in nanomedicine development

Medical nanotechnology is a recent emerging field with the intention to improve human health. The creation and rapid expansion of nanomedicine as a new research field in the last decade is the result of nanotechnology's convergence with biology, genetics, biochemistry, chemistry, physics, pharmacology and medicine. Within nanomedicine, two major categories have emerged: diagnostics (imaging) and therapeutics (drug delivery). Each of these branches has several nanoparticle types that are actively under research and development. While nanomedicine research and use of various nanoparticles in new applications have been categorised and reviewed for their potential utility in medicine, there has been little context of the emerging trends within nanomedicine or how the field is progressing. This article presents an overview of the trends for nanomedicine that are developing over time as measured by examining peer review research literature and patent databases.

Keywords: medical nanotechnology, diagnostics, therapeutics, medicine, nanomedicine, imaging, drug delivery, nanoparticles