Li Dengyu, Luo Wen, Yin Shengwei, Wang Ying, Zhao Yanqing, Zhu Shiwei, Yu Junfeng, Yang Ping, Zhang Lina, Xi Zhuyan
Information Research Institute, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), Jinan, China.
Science and Technology Service Platform, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), Jinan, China.
Recent Pat Nanotechnol. 2025;19(4):609-628. doi: 10.2174/0118722105293359240626070342.
A nano drug delivery system is an effective tool for drug delivery and controlled release, which is used for a variety of medical applications. In recent decades, nano drug delivery systems have been significantly developed with the emergence of new nanomaterials and nanotechnologies.
This article aimed to provide insight into the technological development of nano drug delivery systems through patent analysis.
3708 patent documents were used for patent analysis after retrieval from the Incopat patent database.
The number of patents on nano drug delivery systems has shown a rapid growth trend in the past two decades. At present, China and the United States have obvious contributions to the number of patents. According to the patent data, the nanomaterials used in nano drug delivery system are mainly inorganic nanomaterials, lipid-based nanomaterials, and macromolecules. In recent years, the highly cited patents (≥14) for nano drug delivery systems mainly involve lipid-based nanomaterials, indicating that their technology is mature and widely used. The inorganic nanomaterials in drug delivery have received increasing attention, and the number of related patents has increased significantly after 2016. The number of highly cited patents in the United States is 250, which is much higher than in other countries.
Even after decades of development, nano drug delivery systems remain a hot topic for researchers. The significant increase in patents since 2016 can be attributed to the large number of new patents from China. However, according to the proportion of highly cited patents in total, China's patented technologies in nano drug delivery systems are not advanced enough compared to developed countries, including the United States, Canada, Germany, and France. In the future, research on emerging nanomaterials for nano drug delivery systems, such as inorganic nanomaterials, may focus on developing new materials and optimising their properties. The lipid-based and polymer- based nanomaterials can be continuously improved for the development of new nanomedicines.
纳米药物递送系统是药物递送和控释的有效工具，用于多种医学应用。近几十年来，随着新型纳米材料和纳米技术的出现，纳米药物递送系统得到了显著发展。
本文旨在通过专利分析深入了解纳米药物递送系统的技术发展情况。
从Incopat专利数据库检索后，使用3708篇专利文献进行专利分析。
过去二十年中，纳米药物递送系统的专利数量呈快速增长趋势。目前，中国和美国在专利数量上有显著贡献。根据专利数据，纳米药物递送系统中使用的纳米材料主要有无机纳米材料、脂质基纳米材料和大分子。近年来，纳米药物递送系统的高被引专利（≥14次）主要涉及脂质基纳米材料，表明其技术成熟且应用广泛。药物递送中的无机纳米材料受到越来越多关注，2016年后相关专利数量显著增加。美国的高被引专利数量为250项，远高于其他国家。
即使经过数十年的发展，纳米药物递送系统仍然是研究人员的热门话题。2016年以来专利数量的显著增加可归因于来自中国的大量新专利。然而，根据高被引专利在总数中的比例，中国在纳米药物递送系统方面的专利技术与包括美国、加拿大、德国和法国在内的发达国家相比还不够先进。未来，针对纳米药物递送系统的新兴纳米材料，如无机纳米材料的研究，可能会集中在开发新材料和优化其性能方面。脂质基和聚合物基纳米材料可不断改进以开发新的纳米药物。
