From ABC News: EU scientists seek big investment in nanomedicine
Dec 15, 2005 — By Ben Hirschler
LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists called on European governments on Thursday to back the promise of nanomedicine or risk trailing the United States in the race to develop better ways to treat and diagnose diseases such as cancer.
The European Science Foundation said substantial investment was needed to ensure Europe did not miss out on the healthcare benefits of nanotechnology, which involves manipulating materials and devices on an ultra-small scale.
One nanometer is a billionth of a meter, or about 80,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.
The nano world potentially offers a new way to transport drugs in and out of cells, as well as providing scientists with new tools to image the body and carry out miniaturized diagnostic tests.
The U.S. National Institutes of Health last year committed $144 million to cancer-related nanotechnology research, but European researchers have yet to receive such targeted funding.
Professor Ruth Duncan of Cardiff University, who chaired a two-year investigation into nanomedicine for the foundation, said a similar investment in Europe would be "very useful."
"We tend to be rather slow," she told Reuters in a telephone interview.
"We need to get together and see how we can help to accelerate the development of these sorts of technologies, so that we benefit first-hand and we don't end up importing them back into the European Union from the United States and Japan."
Cancer, heart disease and neurodegenerative disorders should be first priority areas, Duncan and her colleagues concluded.
BETTER DRUGS
Making better medicines using nanotechnology is already moving from the world of science fiction to science fact.
In cancer, researchers have developed nanoparticles to carry tumor-killing agents into cells, while hepatitis C drugs have been made more effective by attaching polymer fragments that make them last longer.
The world of diagnostics, meanwhile, is being revolutionized by the arrival of "biochips" that can analyze genes and proteins rapidly and cheaply on a glass plate, rather than via complex laboratory tests. |
