Nanosuspensions in drug delivery: recent advances, patent scenarios, and commercialization aspects.

The interest in the preparation and application of nanometer-sized materials is increasing due to their tremendous potential as a drug delivery system with wide range of applications. Recently, nanoscale systems have received much interest as a way to resolve solubility issues because of their cost-effectiveness and technical simplicity compared to liposomes and other colloidal drug carriers. Nanosuspensions have proven to be a better alternative over other approaches currently available for improving bioavailability of number of drugs with low solubility. Nanosuspensions have been extensively developed for a wide range of drugs and have been evaluated for in vitro and in vivo applications by various routes: parenteral, oral, pulmonary, topical. They have also been used for drug targeting. Different preparation methods for nanosuspensions and their application are being reported and patented. In fact, the number of products based on nanosuspension in the market and under clinical study is higher than that of other nanotechnology-based applications. This article reviews the research and recent advances in formulation, characterization, application of nanosuspensions as well as patents on nanosuspension methods.