Barriers to advancing nanotechnology to better improve and translate nanomedicines

Engineered nanomaterials and nanotechnologies promise many benefits to enhance both in vitro and in vivo performance. This is now manifest in the increasing number of reported biomedical products under development and testing that contain nanotechnologies as their distinguishing performance—enhancing components. In many cases, nano-sized materials are selected to provide a specific functional aspect that contributes to improved medical performance, either in vitro or in vivo. Nanoparticles are most commonly exploited in diverse roles in topical lotions and creams, solubilization aids, for in vitro and in vivo diagnostic and targeting agents in nanomedicines and theranostics. Despite fundamental scientific excitement and many claims to nanotechnology-based improvements in new biomedical applications, several fundamental and long-standing challenges remain to be addressed using nanomedicines to make clinically important progress. This review addresses several issues that must be fairly and objectively reported and then overcome to provide truly credible performance for nanomedicines.