Tiny Trojans: Recent Progress on Drug Nanocrystals as Highly-Loaded Nanovectors

Nanocrystals (NCs) have entirely changed the panorama of hydrophobic drug delivery, showing improved biopharmaceutical performance through multiple administrations routes. While conventional polymers and lipid nanoparticles have limited drug loading capacity (typically 5-15%), NCs, nanoparticles made of pure drug, present a substantial potential as highly loaded nanovectors. Our group has done pioneering work in the field, covalently attaching functional coronas to the NCs surface. This presentation will discuss examples of clinical applications of NCs for targeted drug delivery from a multidisciplinary perspective, i.e., formulation, chemical attachment of functional moieties, material characterisation, and drug delivery, and in vitro and in vivo testing. The ability to selectively target malignant cells with targeted NCs while sparing healthy tissue can lead to a paradigm shift in oncological therapies. Moreover, NCs decorated with various polymerised coatings have demonstrated ability to cross the mucus barrier in the nasal cavity, and potential to reach central nervous system.