Public Health in the Twenty-First Century: The Role of Advanced Technologies

摘要

Nanotechnology could also improve public health through advanced drug administration strategies. For example, there are many cancer-fighting drugs such as Abraxane® (for breast cancer) and Doxil® (for ovarian cancer), which are “nanoenabled” and have already been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (4). Nanotechnology is also being used to manufacture single dose regimens of hepatitis B vaccine with better penetrance and immune activation profiles compared to the currently administrated four dose regimen. This can be considered a major advance in public health because many more vaccines can be derived with single dose options thereby increasing compliance and effectiveness (4).