Nanomedicine to fight infectious disease

The ubiquity and potency of antibiotics may give the false impression that infection is a solved problem. Unfortunately, even bacterial infections, the target of antibiotics, remain a major cause of illness and death. Several major unmet needs persist: biofilms, such as those on implanted hardware, largely resist antibiotics; the inflammatory host response to infection often produces more damage than the infection itself; and systemic antibiotics often decimate the gut microbiome, which can predispose to additional infections and even predispose to non-infectious diseases. Additionally, there is an increasing threat from multi-drug resistant microorganisms, though market forces may continue to inhibit innovation in this realm. These numerous unmet infection-related needs provide attractive goals for innovation of targeted drug delivery technologies, especially those of nanomedicine. Here we review several of those innovations in pre-clinical development, the two such therapies which have made it to clinical use, and the opportunities for further technology development for treating infections.