Horizon scanning is a strategic tool used by regulatory bodies to identify emerging technologies and guide decision-making. In its latest report on nanomedicines, the European Union Innovation Network presents key recommendations that illustrate the current dynamics between researchers and regulators and how strengthening this relationship could accelerate the translation of nanotechnology-based medicines into patient benefit.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$32.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$119.00 per year
only $9.92 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to the full article PDF.
USD 39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
EMA & HMA. European Medicines Agencies Network Strategy to 2025 - Protecting Public Health at a Time of Rapid Change (EMA & HMA, 2020).
Vignali, V., Hines, P. A., Cruz, A. G., Ziętek, B. & Herold, R. Health horizons: future trends and technologies from the European Medicines Agency’s horizon scanning collaborations. Front. Med. 9, 1064003 (2022).
EMA & HMA. EU-IN Horizon Scanning Report: Nanotechnology-Based Medicinal Products for Human Use (EMA & HMA, 2025).
Starokozhko, V. et al. Strengthening regulatory science in academia: STARS, an EU initiative to bridge the translational gap. Drug Discov. Today 26, 283–288 (2021).
Brown, P. D. & Patel, P. R. Nanomedicine: a pharma perspective. Wiley Interdiscip. Rev. Nanomed. Nanobiotechnol. 7, 125–130 (2015).
Acknowledgements
The authors thank M. Morales from Science Graphic Design for her help in designing the figure.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
S.M. is the Chair of the NANO Working Party at the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & Health Care (EDQM). He also serves as a consultant for CSL-Vifor (Switzerland). The other authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Disclaimer
The views expressed in this article are the personal views of the authors and should not be understood or quoted as being made on behalf of or reflecting the position of the agencies or organizations with which the authors are affiliated.
Related links
Clinical trials information system: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/human-regulatory-overview/research-development/clinical-trials-human-medicines/clinical-trials-information-system
European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare (EDQM) NANO Working Party: https://www.edqm.eu/en/d/74844
European Medicines Agency: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/homepage
European Medicines Regulatory Network: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/about-us/how-we-work/european-medicines-regulatory-network
European platform for regulatory science research: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/about-us/what-we-do/regulatory-science-research/european-platform-regulatory-science-research
European Union Innovation Network: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/committees/working-parties-other-groups/eu-innovation-network-eu
Heads of Medicines Agencies: https://www.hma.eu/about-hma.html
STARS (Strengthening Training of Academia on Regulatory Sciences): https://www.bfarm.de/EN/BfArM/EU-and-International/EU-Projects/CSA-STARS/_node.html
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nuevo, Y., Hemmrich, E., Virto, R. et al. Horizon scanning to shape nanomedicines through researcher–regulator collaboration. Nat Rev Mater 10, 877–879 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-025-00849-4
Published:
Version of record:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-025-00849-4
