Abstract

Introduction. Recent biopharma deals related to nanocarrier drug delivery technologies
highlight the emergence of nanomedicine. This is perhaps an expected culmination of many
years of research demonstrating the potential of nanomedicine as the next generation of
therapeutics with improved performance. PEGylated nanocarriers play a key role within this
field.
Areas covered. The drug delivery advantages of nanomedicines in general are discussed,
focusing on nanocarriers and PEGylated nanomedicines, including products under current
development/clinical evaluation. Well-established drug delivery benefits of PEGylation (e.g.
prolonged circulation) are only briefly covered. Instead, attention is deliberately made to less
commonly reported advantages of PEGylation, including mucosal delivery of nanomedicines.
Finally, some of the issues related to the safety of PEGylated nanomedicines in clinic are
discussed.
Expert opinion. The advent of nanomedicine providing therapeutic options of refined
performance continues. PEGylation as a tool to improve the pharmacokinetics of
nanomedicines is well established and used clinically, but other benefits of ‘PEGnology’,
including enhancement of physicochemical properties and/or biocompatibility of actives
and/or drug carriers, as well as mucosal delivery, have attracted less attention. Concerns
regarding the clinical use of PEGylated nanomedicines remain, but evidence suggests that at
least some safety issues may be controlled by adequate designs of nanosystems.