Nanomedicine: Risk, Safety, Regulation, and Public Health

Nanomedicine is a developing area of medicine, which uses the techniques and tools of nanotechnology to deliver the drugs using appropriate drug delivery systems. These are used for diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of acute or chronic diseases. At present, there are three major areas where nanotechnology has been adopted in medicine, diagnostics, theranostics, drug delivery systems, and regenerative medicine. A new branch of toxicology has been proposed called nanotoxicology, and a lot of studies are reported about various risks involved with nanoapplications. This chapter covers various aspects of nanomedicines and risks involved in using nanomedicine, some of the safety concerns are discussed, and it also covers the regulatory aspect of nanoproducts under US FDA as well as approaches adopted by various countries. Finally, it discusses the public health and public opinion about nanoproducts and nanomedicines.