Researchers analyzing nanomedicines
St.Gallen – Researchers at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa) are investigating the risks associated with nanomedicine. The analysis is focusing on whether component parts of drugs based on nanotechnology can cause damage to the environment.
Nano-diamonds are being used in medicine in order to overcome the blood-brain barrier, while gold nanoparticles are helping in the fight against cancer. Although it is already common knowledge that conventional medication can find its way into the environment, where it can then cause damage, up until now relatively little has been known about the consequences of nanomedicine. A team of St.Gallen researchers from the Empa department of Technology and Society headed up by Bernd Nowack now want to change this, as detailed in a press release. The team is involved in the international, interdisciplinary BIORIMA research and innovation project, which is being funded by Horizon2020, the EU’s research and innovation program. As part of this, Nowack and his research team are developing a risk management process in relation to nano-biomaterials for both humans and the environment.
Components of conventional drugs leave the body and are released into wastewater treatment plants, where they then end up in the water or biosphere. The properties of these traces can then be altered by decomposition. In order to analyze both the consequences and risks of this, pharmacological studies, analyses of materials flows and mathematical environmental models are being used. “For most nano-biomaterials, there are no reliable estimates about the amount of particles being released," Bernd Nowack explains in the press release.
Based on his work up to this point, Nowack is, however, almost able to give the all-clear. “Currently, it can be assumed that gold nanoparticles do not cause any problems when used in medical applications”, he states. Further analysis is needed to confirm this for other nanomaterials. For example, the antibacterial effect of silver nanoparticles could harm the equilibrium of an ecosystem, as this substance is toxic to microorganisms. “It can be assumed that the biological, chemical and physical properties of many nanomaterials may differ significantly from those of other drugs”, Nowack comments.