Nanodelivery Systems Research Articles

Nanodelivery systems: An efficient and target-specific approach for drug-resistant cancers.

Cancer treatment is still a global health challenge. Nowadays, chemotherapy is widely applied for treating cancer and reducing its burden. However, its application might be in accordance with various adverse effects by exposing the healthy tissues and multidrug resistance (MDR), leading to disease relapse or metastasis. In addition, due to tumor heterogeneity and the varied pharmacokinetic features of prescribed drugs, combination therapy has only shown modestly improved results in MDR malignancies. Nanotechnology has been explored as a potential tool for cancer treatment, due to the efficiency of nanoparticles to function as a vehicle for drug delivery. With this viewpoint, functionalized nanosystems have been investigated as a potential strategy to overcome drug resistance. This approach aims to improve the efficacy of anticancer medicines while decreasing their associated side effects through a range of mechanisms, such as bypassing drug efflux, controlling drug release, and disrupting metabolism. This review discusses the MDR mechanisms contributing to therapeutic failure, the most cutting-edge approaches used in nanomedicine to create and assess nanocarriers, and designed nanomedicine to counteract MDR with emphasis on recent developments, their potential, and limitations. Studies have shown that nanoparticle-mediated drug delivery confers distinct benefits over traditional pharmaceuticals, including improved biocompatibility, stability, permeability, retention effect, and targeting capabilities.

Internal stimuli-responsive nanocarriers for controlled anti-cancer drug release: a review.

Cancer disease is one of the most frequent life-threatening, with a high fatality rate worldwide. However, recent immunotherapy studies in various tumours have yielded unsatisfactory outcomes, with just a few individuals experiencing long-term responses. To overcome these issues, nowadays internal stimuli-responsive nanocarriers have been widely exploited to transport a wide range of active substances, including peptides, genesand medicines. These nanosystems could be chemically adjusted to produce target-based drug release at the target location, minimizing pathological and physiological difficulties while increasing therapeutic efficiency. This review highlights the various types of internal stimuli-responsive nanocarriers and applications in cancer diagnosis. This study can provide inspiration and impetus for exploiting more promising internal stimuli-responsive nanosystems for drug delivery.

A Comprehensive Update on Nanotechnology in Functional Food Developments: Recent Updates, Challenges, and Future Perspectives.

The food business makes extensive use of lipophilic bioactive substances derived from plants, such as phytosterols, antimicrobials, antioxidants, ω3 fatty acids, tastes, and countless other constituennts. The preponderance of these bioactive substances, nevertheless, is just about unsolvable in hydric solution and unbalanced at a particular eco-friendly provocation, such as sunlight, temperature, and oxygen, in construction, transference, storage, and employment, for example, icy, chilling, desiccation, warm air dealing out, or machine-driven agitation. According to this standpoint, there are high-tech hitches that must be resolved to inform functionality for the social figure due to the lipophilic bioactive dearth of solubilization, bioavailability, and permanency. This leads to failure in commercialization and quality enhancement. Nanotechnology can generally be used to manufacture nano-kinds of stuff like nano-emulsion, nanoparticles, nanostructured materials, and nanocomposites. The creation of functional foods has attracted a huge interest as our consideration of their affiliation with nourishment and human health has grown. There are still a number of problems that need to be fixed, such as finding useful substances, figuring out ideal intake amounts, and fashioning apt food conveyance systems in addition to product compositions. In several of these areas, new methods and materials developed through nanotechnology have the potential to offer fresh explanations. The present article provides a thorough examination of nanotechnologies employed in the development of functional foods. It outlines the current patterns and forthcoming outlooks of sophisticated nanomaterials in the food industry, with particular emphasis on their applications in processing, packaging, safety, and preservation. The utilization of nanotechnologies in the food industry can improve the "bioavailability, taste, texture, and consistency of food products". This is accomplished by manipulating the particle size, potential cluster formation, and surface charge of food nanomaterials. Furthermore, this paper examines the utilization of nano-delivery systems for administering nutraceuticals, the cooperative effects of nanomaterials in safeguarding food, and the implementation of nano-sensors in intelligent food packaging to monitor the quality of stored food. Additionally, the customary techniques employed for evaluating the influence of nanomaterials on biological systems are also addressed. This review gives a general synopsis of the newfangled possibilities and hitches for systems built on nanotechnology for the creation of functional foods in the future.

Oral hydrogel nanoemulsion co-delivery system treats inflammatory bowel disease via anti-inflammatory and promoting intestinal mucosa repair

BackgroundDue to oral nano-delivery systems for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are often failed to accumulated to the colonic site and could not achieve controlled drug release, it’s urgent to develop a microenvironment responsive drug delivery to improve therapy efficacy. Inflammation at the IBD site is mainly mediated by macrophages, which are the key effector cells. Excessive inflammation leads to oxidative stress and intestinal mucosal damage. The use of curcumin (CUR) and emodin (EMO) together for the treatment of IBD is promising due to their respective anti-inflammatory and intestinal mucosal repair effects. In view of the pH gradient environment of gastrointestinal tract, here we prepared pH-responsive sodium alginate (SA) hydrogel-coated nanoemulsions to co-deliver CUR and EMO (CUR/EMO NE@SA) to achieve controlled drug release and specifically target macrophages of the colon.ResultsIn this study, a pH-responsive CUR/EMO NE@SA was successfully developed, in which the CUR/EMO NE was loaded by chitosan and further crosslinked with sodium alginate. CUR/EMO NE@SA had a pH-responsive property and could achieve controlled drug release in the colon. The preparation could significantly alleviate and improve the colon inflammatory microenvironment by decreasing TNF-α and IL-6 expression, increasing IL-10 expression, scavenging reactive oxygen species in macrophages, and by ameliorating the restoration of intestinal mucosal tight junction protein expression. Furthermore, we revealed the molecular mechanism of the preparation for IBD treatment, which might due to the CUR and EMO synergic inhibition of NF-κB to improve the pro-inflammatory microenvironment. Our study provides a new IBD therapy strategy via synergically inhibiting inflammatory, repairing mucosal and clearing ROS by pH-sensitive hydrogel-encapsulated nanoemulsion drug delivery system, which might be developed for other chronic inflammatory disease treatment.ConclusionsIt’s suggested that pH-sensitive hydrogel-coated nanoemulsion-based codelivery systems are a promising combinatorial platform in IBD.Graphical

Smart Targeted Delivery Systems for Enhancing Antitumor Therapy of Active Ingredients in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

As a therapeutic tool inherited for thousands of years, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) exhibits superiority in tumor therapy. The antitumor active components of TCM not only have multi-target treatment modes but can also synergistically interfere with tumor growth compared to traditional chemotherapeutics. However, most antitumor active components of TCM have the characteristics of poor solubility, high toxicity, and side effects, which are often limited in clinical application. In recent years, delivering the antitumor active components of TCM by nanosystems has been a promising field. The advantages of nano-delivery systems include improved water solubility, targeting efficiency, enhanced stability in vivo, and controlled release drugs, which can achieve higher drug-delivery efficiency and bioavailability. According to the method of drug loading on nanocarriers, nano-delivery systems can be categorized into two types, including physically encapsulated nanoplatforms and chemically coupled drug-delivery platforms. In this review, two nano-delivery approaches are considered, namely physical encapsulation and chemical coupling, both commonly used to deliver antitumor active components of TCM, and we summarized the advantages and limitations of different types of nano-delivery systems. Meanwhile, the clinical applications and potential toxicity of nano-delivery systems and the future development and challenges of these nano-delivery systems are also discussed, aiming to lay the foundation for the development and practical application of nano-delivery systems of TCM in clinical settings.

Assessing the In Vitro Digestion of Lactoferrin-Curcumin Nanoparticles Using the Realistic Gastric Model.

Nanosized delivery systems have been the subject of research and discussion in the scientific community due to their unique properties and functionality. However, studies reporting the behaviour of nanodelivery systems under dynamic in vitro digestion conditions are still very scarce. To address this gap, this study aims to assess the dynamic in vitro gastric digestion of lactoferrin/curcumin nanoparticles in the realistic gastric model (RGM). For this purpose, the INFOGEST standard semi-dynamic digestion protocol was used. The nanosystems were characterized in terms of hydrodynamic size, size distribution, polydispersity index (PdI), and zeta potential using dynamic light scattering (DLS), before and during the digestion process. Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) was also used to examine particle aggregation. In addition, the release of curcumin was evaluated spectroscopically and the intrinsic fluorescence of lactoferrin was measured throughout the digestion process. The protein hydrolysis was also determined by UV-VIS-SWNIR spectroscopy to estimate, in real-time, the presence of free NH2 groups during gastric digestion. It was possible to observe that lactoferrin/curcumin nanoparticles were destabilized during the dynamic digestion process. It was also possible to conclude that low sample volumes can pose a major challenge in the application of dynamic in vitro digestion models.

Nano Drug Delivery Strategies for anOral Bioenhanced Quercetin Formulation.

Quercetin, a naturally occurring flavonoid, has been credited with a wide spectrum of therapeutic properties. However, the oral use of quercetin is limited due to its poor water solubility, low bioavailability, rapid metabolism, and rapid plasma clearance. Quercetin has been studied extensively when used with various nanodelivery systems for enhancing quercetin bioavailability. To enhance its oral bioavailability and efficacy, various quercetin-loaded nanosystems such as nanosuspensions, polymer nanoparticles, metal nanoparticles, emulsions, liposomes or phytosomes, micelles, solid lipid nanoparticles, and other lipid-based nanoparticles have been investigated in in-vitro cells, in-vivo animal models, and humans. Among the aforementioned nanosystems, quercetin phytosomes are attracting more interest and are available on the market. The present review covers insights into the possibilities of harnessing quercetin for several therapeutic applications and a special focus on anticancer applications and the clinical benefits of nanoquercetin formulations.

Ferrocene-Based Drugs, Delivery Nanomaterials and Fenton Mechanism: State of the Art, Recent Developments and Prospects.

Ferrocene has been the most used organometallic moiety introduced in organic and bioinorganic drugs to cure cancers and various other diseases. Following several pioneering studies, two real breakthroughs occurred in 1996 and 1997. In 1996, Jaouen et al. reported ferrocifens, ferrocene analogs of tamoxifen, the chemotherapeutic for hormone-dependent breast cancer. Several ferrocifens are now in preclinical evaluation. Independently, in 1997, ferroquine, an analog of the antimalarial drug chloroquine upon the introduction of a ferrocenyl substituent in the carbon chain, was reported by the Biot-Brocard group and found to be active against both chloroquine-sensitive and chloroquine-resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum. Ferroquine, in combination with artefenomel, completed phase IIb clinical evaluation in 2019. More than 1000 studies have been published on ferrocenyl-containing pharmacophores against infectious diseases, including parasitic, bacterial, fungal, and viral infections, but the relationship between structure and biological activity has been scarcely demonstrated, unlike for ferrocifens and ferroquines. In a majority of ferrocene-containing drugs, however, the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), in particular the OH. radical, produced by Fenton catalysis, plays a key role and is scrutinized in this mini-review, together with the supramolecular approach utilizing drug delivery nanosystems, such as micelles, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), polymers, and dendrimers.

Tumor microenvironment-responsive delivery nanosystems reverse immunosuppression for enhanced CO gas/immunotherapy.

Carbon monoxide (CO) gas therapy demonstrates great potential to induce cancer cell apoptosis and antitumor immune responses, which exhibits tremendous potential in cancer treatment. However, the therapeutic efficacy of CO therapy is inhibited by the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). Herein, a facile strategy is proposed to construct hollow-structured rough nanoplatforms to boost antitumor immunity and simultaneously reverse immunosuppression by exploring intrinsic immunomodulatory properties and morphological optimization of nanomaterials. The TME-responsive delivery nanosystems (M-RMH) are developed by encapsulating the CO prodrug within hollow rough MnO2 nanoparticles and the subsequent surface functionalization with hyaluronic acid (HA). Rough surfaces are designed to facilitate the intrinsic properties of HA-functionalized MnO2 nanoparticles (RMH) to induce dendritic cell maturation and M1 macrophage polarization by STING pathway activation and hypoxia alleviation through enhanced cellular uptake. After TME-responsive degradation of RMH, controlled release of CO is triggered at the tumor site for CO therapy to activate antitumor immunity. More importantly, RMH could modulate immunosuppressive TME by hypoxia alleviation. After the combination with aPD-L1-mediated checkpoint blockade therapy, robust antitumor immune responses are found to inhibit both primary and distant tumors. This work provides a facile strategy to construct superior delivery nanosystems for enhanced CO/immunotherapy through efficient activation of antitumor immune responses and reversal of immunosuppression.

Influences and potential mechanisms of zein-fucoidan nanoparticles loaded with and without curcumin on casein before and after thermal treatment

This study aims to investigate the influences and potential mechanisms of zein-fucoidan nanoparticle (ZFNPs) loaded with and without curcumin (Cur) on casein (CN) before and after thermal treatment. It was found that the addition of ZFNPs into CN solution slightly promoted its fluorescence. However, significant fluorescence quenching of CN was observed after heating when Cur-loaded ZFNPs (CZFNPs) and free Cur were added. We speculated that Cur released from CZFNPs during heating might access the hydrophobic sites in the interior of CN to interact with tryptophan (Trp) residues, like free Cur. Obviously conformational changes of CN caused by released Cur was stronger than that caused by ZFNPs. FTIR spectra revealed that the influences of CZFNPs on the secondary structure of CN also resulted from both ZFNPs and the loaded Cur molecules. Additionally, with the addition of CZFNPs, ZFNPs and Cur, the average particle size of CN increased before heating but decreased after heating. Although they exhibited a same trend, the CN solutions with ZFNPs and CZFNPs were more homogeneous systems from this aspect. Last but not least, DSC curves showed that the presence of ZFNPs during heating did not alter the thermal stability of CN. Nevertheless, CZFNPs and Cur led to a reduction in the denaturalization temperature of CN, indicating that they were just simply mixed with CN in the solutions rather than bind to CN through covalent bonds. The results obtained in this work may provide theoretical guidance for the application of nano delivery systems in functional foods and beverages.

Engineering of functional nanosnowflakes from gold nanocarriers capped with amino-modified DNA oligonucleotides.

The design, engineering and electron microscopic characterization of anisotropic nanosized snowflake-like structural assemblies (nanosnowflakes) is reported. They were fabricated through immobilization of double stranded amine-modified and thiol-terminated DNA oligonucleotides on the surface of ultra-small isotropic gold nanoparticles used as nanocarriers. The transmission electron microscopy images combined with spectrophotometric data revealed the formation of self-assembled structural aggregation between individual ligands-coated nanoparticles. They act as seeds for the further spontaneous dendritic growth in different directions. Their anisotropic morphology is formed due to the occurrence of facilitated electrostatic interactions between positive charged amino-groups and the negative sugar-phosphate backbone of oligonucleotides. Thus, nanosnowflakes with size distribution between 40 and 80 nm were obtained. The microscopic analysis demonstrated also that the stable nanosnowflakes structure was highly dependent on the solution ionic strength, which effect the charge fluctuation within the assembly. The reported DNA functionalized nanostructures have potential to be applied as a platform for development of therapeutic materials, as well as drug delivery nanosystems. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: The engineering, fabrication, and microscopic characterization of DNA nanosnowflakes is reported. The electron microscopy analysis revealed formation of self-assemblies with anisotropic morphology. The nanosnowflakes size distribution was between 40 and 80 nm.

Nano-delivery systems as a promising therapeutic potential for epilepsy: Current status and future perspectives.

Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder caused by aberrant neuronal electrical activity. Antiseizure medications (ASMs) are the first line of treatment for people with epilepsy (PWE). However, their effectiveness may be limited by their inability to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB), among many other potential underpinnings for drug resistance in epilepsy. Therefore, there is a need to overcome this issue and, hopefully, improve the effectiveness of ASMs. Recently, synthetic nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems have received attention for improving the effectiveness of ASMs due to their ability to cross the BBB. Furthermore, exosomes have emerged as a promising generation of drug delivery systems because of their potential benefits over synthetic nanoparticles. In this narrative review, we focus on various synthetic nanoparticles that have been studied to deliver ASMs. Furthermore, the benefits and limitations of each nano-delivery system have been discussed. Finally, we discuss exosomes as potentially promising delivery tools for treating epilepsy.

Interactions between modified fullerenes and proteins in cancer nanotechnology

Fullerenes have numerous properties that fill the gap between small molecules and nanomaterials. Several types of chemical reaction allow their surface to be ornamented with functional groups designed to change them into 'ideal' nanodelivery systems. Improved stability, and bioavailability are important, but chemical modifications can render them practically soluble in water. 'Buckyball' fullerene scaffolds can interact with many biological targets and inhibit several proteins essential for tumorigeneses. Herein, we focus on the inhibitory properties of fullerene nanomaterials against essential proteins in cancer nanotechnology, as well as the use of dedicated proteins to improve the bioavailability of these promising nanomaterials.

Advances with Lipid-Based Nanosystems for siRNA Delivery to Breast Cancers.

Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among women. Breast cancer is also the key reason for worldwide cancer-related deaths among women. The application of small interfering RNA (siRNA)-based drugs to combat breast cancer requires effective gene silencing in tumor cells. To overcome the challenges of drug delivery to tumors, various nanosystems for siRNA delivery, including lipid-based nanoparticles that protect siRNA from degradation for delivery to cancer cells have been developed. These nanosystems have shown great potential for efficient and targeted siRNA delivery to breast cancer cells. Lipid-based nanosystems remain promising as siRNA drug delivery carriers for effective and safe cancer therapy including breast cancer. Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) encapsulating siRNA enable efficient and specific silencing of oncogenes in breast tumors. This review discusses a variety of lipid-based nanosystems including cationic lipids, sterols, phospholipids, PEG-lipid conjugates, ionizable liposomes, exosomes for effective siRNA drug delivery to breast tumors, and the clinical translation of lipid-based siRNA nanosystems for solid tumors.

Stimuli-responsive nanodelivery systems for amplifying immunogenic cell death in cancer immunotherapy.

Immunogenic cell death (ICD) is a special pattern of tumor cell death, enabling to elicit tumor-specific immune response via the release of damage-associated molecular patterns and tumor-associated antigens in the tumor microenvironment. ICD-induced immunotherapy holds the promise for completely eliminating tumors and long-term protective antitumor immune response. Increasing ICD inducers have been discovered for boosting antitumor immunity via evoking ICD. Nonetheless, the utilization of ICD inducers remains insufficient owing to serious toxic reactions, low localization efficiency within the tumor microenvironmental niche, etc. For overcoming such limitations, stimuli-responsive multifunctional nanoparticles or nanocomposites with ICD inducers have been developed for improving immunotherapeutic efficiency via lowering toxicity, which represent a prospective scheme for fostering the utilization of ICD inducers in immunotherapy. This review outlines the advances in near-infrared (NIR)-, pH-, redox-, pH- and redox-, or NIR- and tumor microenvironment-responsive nanodelivery systems for ICD induction. Furthermore, we discuss their clinical translational potential. The progress of stimuli-responsive nanoparticles in clinical settings depends upon the development of biologically safer drugs tailored to patient needs. Moreover, an in-depth comprehending of ICD biomarkers, immunosuppressive microenvironment, and ICD inducers may accelerate the advance in smarter multifunctional nanodelivery systems to further amplify ICD.

Phytoestrogen-derived multifunctional ligands for targeted therapy of breast cancer

Nano-targeted delivery systems have been widely used for breast tumor drug delivery. Estrogen receptors are considered to be significant drug delivery target receptors due to their overexpression in a variety of tumor cells. However, targeted ligands have a significant impact on the safety and effectiveness of active delivery systems, limiting the clinical transformation of nanoparticles. Phytoestrogens have shown good biosafety characteristics and some affinity with the estrogen receptor. In the present study, molecular docking was used to select tanshinone IIA (Tan IIA) among phytoestrogens as a target ligand to be used in nanodelivery systems with some modifications. Modified Tan IIA (Tan-NH2) showed a good biosafety profile and demonstrated tumor-targeting, anti-tumor and anti-tumor metastasis effects. Moreover, the ligand was utilized with the anti-tumor drug Dox-loaded mesoporous silica nanoparticles via chemical modification to generate a nanocomposite Tan-Dox-MSN. Tan-Dox-MSN had a uniform particle size, good dispersibility and high drug loading capacity. Validation experiments in vivo and in vitro showed that it also had a better targeting ability, anti-tumor effect and lower toxicity in normal organs. These results supported the idea that phytoestrogens with high affinity for the estrogen receptor could improve the therapeutic efficacy of nano-targeted delivery systems in breast tumors.

A boronate-based modular assembly nanosystem to block the undesirable crosstalk between hepatic stellate cells and Kupffer cells.

Crosstalk between Kupffer cells (KCs) and hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) plays an important role in multiple liver disease conditions, including the formation of liver fibrosis in alcohol-associated liver disease (AALD). Therapeutic targeting of the KC-HSC crosstalk is a prime target for therapeutic interventions. Herein, a novel modular nanosystem was designed and prepared through the self-assembly utilizing boric acid and catechol interactions to prepare polymers modified with a CXCR4-inhibiting moieties. The polymers were used to encapsulate anti-miR-155 and to block the undesirable crosstalk between HSCs and KCs by downregulating miR-155 expression in KCs with the parallel inhibition of CXCR4 signaling in activated HSCs. The combined inhibition of miR-155 and CXCR4 at two different liver cell types achieved improved antifibrosis effects in a mouse model of AALD fibrosis. Our finding highlights the key role that blocking the undesirable crosstalk between HSCs and KCs plays in reversing AALD fibrosis as well as demonstrates a proof-of-concept approach for designing and constructing multifunctional delivery nanosystems using orthogonal functional modules based on the understanding of disease mechanisms.

Emerging Polymer-Based Nanosystem Strategies in the Delivery of Antifungal Drugs.

Nanosystems-based antifungal agents have emerged as an effective strategy to address issues related to drug resistance, drug release, and toxicity. Among the diverse materials employed for antifungal drug delivery, polymers, including polysaccharides, proteins, and polyesters, have gained significant attention due to their versatility. Considering the complex nature of fungal infections and their varying sites, it is crucial for researchers to carefully select appropriate polymers based on specific scenarios when designing antifungal agent delivery nanosystems. This review provides an overview of the various types of nanoparticles used in antifungal drug delivery systems, with a particular emphasis on the types of polymers used. The review focuses on the application of drug delivery systems and the release behavior of these systems. Furthermore, the review summarizes the critical physical properties and relevant information utilized in antifungal polymer nanomedicine delivery systems and briefly discusses the application prospects of these systems.

Green Synthesis and the Evaluation of a Functional Amphiphilic Block Copolymer as a Micellar Curcumin Delivery System.

Polymer micelles represent one of the most attractive drug delivery systems due to their design flexibility based on a variety of macromolecular synthetic methods. The environmentally safe chemistry in which the use or generation of hazardous materials is minimized has an increasing impact on polymer-based drug delivery nanosystems. In this work, a solvent-free green synthetic procedure was applied for the preparation of an amphiphilic diblock copolymer consisting of biodegradable hydrophobic poly(acetylene-functional carbonate) and biocompatible hydrophilic polyethylene glycol (PEG) blocks. The cyclic functional carbonate monomer 5-methyl-5-propargyloxycarbonyl-1,3-dioxane-2-one (MPC) was polymerized in bulk using methoxy PEG-5K as a macroinitiator by applying the metal-free organocatalyzed controlled ring-opening polymerization at a relatively low temperature of 60 °C. The functional amphiphilic block copolymer self-associated in aqueous media into stable micelles with an average diameter of 44 nm. The copolymer micelles were physico-chemically characterized and loaded with the plant-derived anticancer drug curcumin. Preliminary in vitro evaluations indicate that the functional copolymer micelles are non-toxic and promising candidates for further investigation as nanocarriers for biomedical applications.

Current status and vision of local pharmaceutical industries in Saudi Arabia: The focus on nanomedicines

BackgroundPharmaceutical nanomedicine products are expected to impact the global pharmaceutical market and healthcare system significantly. Since 2000, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) have approved over 80 nanomedicine products for marketing; an additional double that number is currently being tested in clinical trials. The nanomedicine market is expected to reach USD 350.8 billion by 2025 from USD 138.8 billion in 2016. This demonstrates the importance of nanotechnology to the delivery of pharmaceuticals. The main benefits of employing nanotechnology to distribute therapeutic agents include reducing the undesired toxicity from non-specific distribution and increasing patient adherence, which can indirectly minimize the burden on the country's healthcare system. Such products are expected to gain a significant economic impact on Saudi Arabia’s pharmaceutical drugs market once they get developed locally. MethodA descriptive and cross-sectional study, including a web-based questionnaire and a complete categorization of pharmaceutical products formed by the national industries in Saudi Arabia, was utilized to investigate the current and future direction of pharmaceutical manufacturing exploiting nanotechnology in the Kingdom. ResultsThe survey showed an apparent lack of willingness within the national pharmaceutical industries, as the majority (≈ 86%) of the leading Saudi companies cannot enable nanotechnology-based medicines in their manufacturing. However, more than 93% of the national pharmaceutical industries, upon the basis of the responses, agreed that the development of pharmaceutical products with nanotechnology is an important step toward solving various complications associated with conventional forms of the available medicine. ConclusionNational pharmaceutical industries in Saudi Arabia will need to get closer to manufacturing nanomedicines by partnering with international pioneer companies. In addition, empowering the local research and development (R&D) centers in nano delivery systems could facilitate translating their R&D outcomes into novel advanced and commercialized products. This could imitate the direction of the global pharmaceutical market and share its revenue which will positively reflect on the Kingdom's economy.