Research Overview

In the last decade, nanomedicine and nanotechnology have helped unlock revolutionary therapeutic potential that has positively impacted healthcare. Among the different nanotechnology-based innovations, lipid-based nanoparticles such as liposomes and lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) show great promise across multiple therapies. Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of liposomes for the delivery of cancer drug therapeutics in the early 90s, the recent breakthrough in use of LNPs for mRNA vaccine delivery for COVID-19 has created high interest in LNPs from pharmaceutical companies worldwide. Contract manufacturing of LNPs with diverse phospholipids of different surface charge and effective methods of stabilizing the lipid-based carriers using stabilizers such as cholesterols and emulsifiers to maintain size and drug-loading efficiency are the key focus areas in industrial R&D.

LNPs are chosen widely for drug/vaccine delivery due to their ease in formulation and high biocompatibility in comparison with other polymeric nanocarriers. LNPs have brough a radical change in the treatment of cancer therapy, ensuring improved drug delivery to the target site with minimal side effects. Importantly, LNPs can cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) to improve drug delivery in treating brain tumors or neurodegenerative diseases. Apart from therapeutics, use of LNPs for the delivery of nucleic acids, such as pDNA, mRNA, and siRNA, has gained profound interest and potential in demonstrating high capabilities in viral vaccine delivery. The LNPs offer stability and protection to the mRNA, ensuring better efficacy and enhanced immune response. The last decade witnessed progress in LNPs used for treating complex diseases and as preventative vaccines; however, regulations of LNPs and their large-scale production for uniform size, shape, and product stability limit wide-scale adoption. The commercialization of LNPs for therapeutic and vaccine delivery holds major promise in transforming global health issues when supported by good manufacturing practices, regulations, and quality control analysis for better clinical translation.