# Sol-Gel Silica Nanoparticles in Medicine: A Natural Choice. Design, Synthesis and Products
## 1 Introduction
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline \hline
**Component** & **Material** & **Function** \\ \hline Biomedical payload & Imaging agents for optical, MRI, MPI, CT, PET, SPECT, US imaging & Image enhancement \\  & (organic dye, QDs, UCN’s, magnetic materials, metal NPs) & \\ \hline  & Therapeutic agents (anticancer drugs, DNA, siRNA, & Cancer cell death induction, gene up/down regulation \\  & hyperthermal/photodynamic materials) & \\ \hline Carrier & Organic (lipid, natural/synthetic polymers) & Multifunctional (protection of payloads, controlled release of \\  & & drug/gene, biocompatibility, stimuli responsiveness) \\ \hline  & Inorganic (hollow metal NPs, hollow metal oxide NPs, C nanostructures, & \\  & porous, non-porous, core-shell or nanostructured SiO\({}_{2}\) NPs) & Multifunctional (imaging ability added to above functions) \\ \hline Surface modifier & Antibody & Molecular imaging \\ \hline  & Aptamer & Target specific delivery \\ \hline  & Peptide/protein & Uptake enhancement \\ \hline  & Small molecules & Penetration of barrier \\ \hline  & & Signaling transduction \\  & & Stimuli responsiveness \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Multifunctional NPs: materials and functions (adapted and reproduced with permission from [14]). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Trade Mark** & **Formulation** & **Company** & **Application** & **Phase of Development** \\ \hline C-dot(tm) & PEG-coated SO\({}_{2}\) NPs & C-dots Development (USA) & Melanoma (Intravenous) & FDA approved 2011 \\ \hline PrevCouncil(tm) & SO\({}_{3}\) sol-gel delivery platform & PrevCouncil (Canada) & platform for Nose-to-Brain Delivery of Therapeutic Compounds & INC FDA approval \\ \hline Vered(tm) & Patented microsompeulation SiO\({}_{2}\) NPs & Ssd Gel Technologies (Israst) & Papappostular Rosacea (Dematology) & Phase II \\ \hline Twin(tm) & Patented microsompeulation SiO\({}_{2}\) NPs & Ssd Gel Technologies (Israst) & Acne Vulgaris (Dematology) & Phase II \\ \hline Strn-(tm) & Patented microsompeulation SiO\({}_{2}\) NPs & Ssd Gel Technologies (Israst) & Acne Vulgaris (Dematology) & Phase II \\ \hline Generic & Patented microsompeulation SiO\({}_{2}\) NPs & Ssd Gel Technologies (Israst) & Acne Vulgaris (Dematology) & Phase III \\ \hline Ultra-small silicon-based bismuth gadolinium NPs & Nit TheirAgita (Finner) & Dual MRCT guided radiation therapy & Phase I \\ \hline AbsoluteMag(tm) & Silica NN\({}_{2}\), TiO\({}_{3}\), CO\({}_{3}\) carbon NPs & Cd Creative Diagnostics (USA) & Thermocide & Phase I \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{DiagNano(tm)} & Silica magnetic NPs (produced by hydrolysis of & & \\  & ortholuclaslas in the presence of magnetic) & Cd Creative Diagnostics (USA) & DNA/RNA isolation and purification & Phase I \\  & (250 nm-\(\phi\)m, 60-34 (nm/g)) & & & \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{AuroLoss(tm)} & PEG-coated silica-gold nanochells & Nan@spectra Biosciences (USA) & Near-IR light facilitated thermal ablation. Thermal ablation of & \multirow{2}{*}{NCT1016/94/00 (Not Provided)} \\  & solid primary and/or metastatic long tumors & & & \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{AuroLoss(tm)} & PEG-coated silica-gold nanochells & Nan@spectra Biosciences (USA) & MR/US Near-IR light facilitated Prostate Gund Tumors & Phase II \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: Sol-gel silica nanocarriers in clinical use and under clinical investigation. Harkin Holdings (Tauranga, New Zeland) and B. Arkin Bio Ventures (Herzliya Pituach, Israel) are finance agencies that identify, invest in, and follow up innovative early and mid-stage companies directed to nanomedicine (with game-changing breakthroughs) in areas such as immunotherapy, cancer metabolism, microbiome, CNS, autoimmune diseases, orphan diseases and drug delivery nanoplatforms empowering this emerging I&D segment.