In the last decade, progress in developing nano sized
hybrid therapeutics and drug delivery systems has
been remarkable. These nanoscale and often
multicomponent constructs can be seen as the first
nanomedicines, already bringing clinical benefits.
A good flow of related technologies is also in
development. But are these ‘nanomedicines’ really
new? The educated answer is ‘not really’. The
concepts of antibody-conjugates, liposomes and
polymer-conjugates stem from the 1970s. At first,
they were seen as competing technologies; only one
would emerge as a ‘magic bullet’ for all drugtargeting
applications. But each has advantages and