OF PHARMACEUTICS AND NANOTECHNOLOGY Nanotechnology for Herbal Drugs and Plant Research

Nanotechnology is the new emerging technology in the drug discovery and it has the property of self targeting in the sense that without the attachment of a specific ligand, the nanoparticles can be used for targeting, due to their distinctively small size, at the infected pathological areas. Drug delivery system fetched a novel drug delivery system, a novel approach to overcome the drawbacks of the traditional drug delivery systems. Treatment of chronic diseases like cancer using targeted drug delivery nanoparticles is the latest achievement. By analyzing the relationship between nanotechnology and biological medicine, the application of nanotechnological methods for bioavailability enhancement of herbal drugs can be brought about. „Bhasma‟, a natural product, is a metallo-medicine in powder form of nano to submicron size. At present, several nano drugs are under investigation for drug delivery and more specifically for cancer therapy. Interestingly, pharmaceutical sciences are using nanoparticles to reduce toxicity and side effects of drugs.