To promote the scientific and industrial development of nanomedicine in Europe, the European Technology Platform for nanomedicine was created. Here’s what it is and what its role and value are
The European technology platform for nanomedicine it is a clear example of Europe’s value in the study of nanotechnologies in the medical and pharmaceutical fields. Established in 2005, it has 125 members from 25 different Member States, involving all stakeholders, from universities to large pharmaceutical companies and SMEs, combining the efforts of industry, research and institutions. European Commission, public agencies, representatives of national platforms are all an active part of this initiative which sees Italy playing a valuable role, starting with the members of the board. On the recently elected executive board (2023-2025), Giovanni Tosi, professor of the Pharmaceutical Technology Applications sector at the Department of Life Sciences of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, was re-elected as secretary.
In addition to Tosi, two other Italian scientists are part of the board: Marzia Bedoni, Head of Laboratory of the Don Gnocchi Foundation for the Clinical Translation working group, and Marco Monopoli, Senior Lecturer, at the Royal College of Surgeons, in Ireland, responsible for the WG Education & Training.
Tosi himself explains:
«as secretary, I am responsible for promoting – together with the other members of the board – training initiatives, events and taking care of the planning phase, establishing the future direction of EPTN, creating opportunities for sharing and dissemination and establishing connections to strengthen the role of nanomedicine in Europe”.
Takeaway
Nanomedicine has assumed global importance and market interest is continuously growing, so much so that its global value is estimated to reach more than 455 billion between now and the next 7 years. The importance of Europe for the application of nanotechnologies in the medical field it is the result of research and industrial work which has its reference in the European Technology Platform for Nanomedicine (EPTN). Despite having had substantial development in the last three years, nanomedicine is the fruit of multi-year research which opens up potential notable ones, which include personalized medicine for the treatment of cancer and rare diseases
Nanomedicine in Europe: the value of the European Technology Platform for Nanomedicine
According to a study conducted by the European Science Foundation (ESF), Europe is in a strong position in most of the examined scientific areas of nanomedicine.
Among other things, considering the field of new therapeutics and drug delivery systems, the study found that European scientists have been pioneers in the design and development of many first-generation nanomedicines, and are particularly strong in the areas of engineering of tissues, in regenerative medicine and in stem cell research.
In general, the value of nanomedicine in the healthcare field is assuming growing importance not only at a European but global level. Recent estimates regarding the global size of the nanomedicine market, which from the current 167.28 billion will reach 455.70 billion by 2031.
To create the appropriate synergies and promote univocal strategies for the present and future of this sector, the Nanomedicine European Technology Platform (ETPN) was created. Established together with the European Commission, the European Technology Platform for Nanomedicine is considered a key element in the European innovation ecosystem and a main bridge between the community and the European Commission for the implementation of the research framework programmes.
ETPN fundamentally acts as Europe’s nanomedicine think tank, supporting public funding of the most promising research and development topics through strategic input from all stakeholders; and as a “driving force for industrialization”, identifying the best innovations in the field of nanomedicine and facilitating their access to clinical trials through the Nanomedicine Translation Hub. The latter represents a tool capable of bringing together a set of innovative technical infrastructures aimed at accelerating the development of the best nanomedicine projects, from innovative design to clinical development.
What is nanomedicine and Italy’s role
Having illustrated the aims and characteristics of the European technological platform for nanomedicine, it is important to explain what nanomedicine is.
«This term defines the application of nanotechnologies aimed at transporting drugs to the right place at the right time, improving the performance of current drugs available or contributing to finding new solutions – explains Giovanni Tosi. In the European Community, nanomedicine falls within the Key Enabling Technologies, counting on adequate European funding to support the research and development of KETs in the application of the so-called unmet medical needs (UMN) or unsatisfied medical needs”.
Giovanni Tosi, professor of the pharmaceutical technological applications sector at the Department of Life Sciences of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
Considered a key enabler for personalized, targeted and regenerative medicine, it offers doctors and patients the next level of new drugs, treatments and implantable devices, for real breakthroughs in healthcare. EPTN itself underlines that:
“Nanomedicine raises high expectations among millions of patients for better, more efficient and convenient healthcare and has the potential to provide promising solutions to many diseases. From diagnosis to disease monitoring, through surgery and chemotherapy or regenerative medicine, nanotechnologies have a virtual impact on all fields of current medicine”.
The development of nanomedicine is very recent: until three years ago – underlines Tosi himself – there were not many products on the market. After Covid there was a huge leap forward, thanks to the success achieved with messenger RNA vaccines. Today, several pharmaceutical companies have begun to focus attention on these drugs. The control bodies have provided precise rules for their production and thus the field has been regulated appropriately. «Today we can count on an ideal terrain in which to operate and put into practice the fruit of years of research conducted in this sector and to carry out technological transfer in order to make the transition from research to commercial product. We are experiencing a happy moment for nanomedicines, also in Italy thanks to the PNRR and the various funded projects, many of which see their transversal use”.
At the research level, there are various national innovative technological platforms. Italy has a leading role, as demonstrated by the various bodies involved in this sector. The platform launched at Unimore is one of the most representative: it involves different skills, from biochemists to doctors, from engineers to physicists, highlighting the multidisciplinary vocation of the research conducted in this field.
Nanomedicine today and the potential future
The European technological platform for nanomedicine, by statute, cannot promote specific research projects, but works on the following macro-areas: regenerative medicine (gene therapy); therapeutic; diagnostics; clinical transfer; training.
«Within our activities we promote a sort of skills search engine, thus allowing interested organizations and companies to be able to identify the most targeted profiles for certain research and development activities», specifies the EPTN secretary.
What potential do nanomedicines currently have?
«The most important aspect is that they allow us to create more selective drugs or revitalize drugs already on the market, but no longer effective. Through nanomedicines it is possible to create tailor-made drugs, contributing in particular to finding effective answers and reducing costs to create drugs dedicated not only to widespread pathologies, but also for rare diseases”.
In the future we will increasingly move towards personalized nanomedicine. Personalized medicine already exists today, but the contribution of nanotechnologies can contribute substantially to achieving a more effective level of real care in less time with benefits for everyone.
Let’s just think about the mRNA vaccines which, since the prevention of Covid, are starting to be applied for the treatment of some tumor pathologies: in the future they could be a broader response in the treatment of cancer.
«To succeed in this aim, we will work to simplify the experimental design and production, drastically lowering costs and allowing those who have to develop them the possibility of doing so, freed from the sometimes unsustainable economic limit», concludes Tosi.
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