Nanomedicine: a new paradigm to overcome drug incompatibilities

OBJECTIVES

Drug incompatibilities may compromise the safety and effectiveness of combined drugs and result in mild-to-serious clinical complications, such as catheter obstruction, loss of drug efficacy, formation of toxic derivatives and embolism. Various preventive strategies have been implemented to overcome drug incompatibilities with limited success. This review presents an innovative approach to prevent drug incompatibilities via isolating the incompatible drugs into nanostructures.

KEY FINDINGS

Several examples of incompatible drugs may be loaded separately into nanostructures of various types. Physicochemical characteristics and biocompatibility of the nanomaterials that are being utilized to prevent physicochemical incompatibilities should be carefully considered.

CONCLUSIONS

There is a new era of exploiting nanomaterials in overcoming various types of physicochemical incompatibilities, with additional benefits of further improvements in pharmacokinetic profiles and pharmacological actions of the administered drugs.