Amir Jalili
1 
, Rafieh Bagherifar
2,3 , Ali Nokhodchi
4,5, Barbara Conway
6,7* , Yousef Javadzadeh
8* 1 Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Eastern Mediterranean University, Famagusta, North Cyprus.
2 Student Research Committee, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
3 Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
4 Pharmaceutics Research Laboratory, School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Arundel Building, Brighton BNI 9QJ, UK.
5 Lupin Research Center, Coral Springs, Florida, USA.
6 Department of Pharmacy, School of Applied Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, UK.
7 Institute of Skin Integrity and Infection Prevention, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, UK.
8 Biotechnology Research Center, and Faculty of Pharmacy, Tabriz University of Medical Science, Tabriz, Iran.
Abstract
Phytomedicine has been used by humans since ancient times to treat a variety of diseases. However, herbal medicines face significant challenges, including poor water and lipid solubility and instability, which lead to low bioavailability and insufficient therapeutic efficacy. Recently, it has been shown that nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems are appropriate to overcome the above-mentioned limitations. The present review study first discusses herbal medicines and the challenges involved in the formulation of these drugs. The different types of nano-based drug delivery systems used in herbal delivery and their potential to improve therapeutic efficacy are summarized, and common techniques for preparing nanocarriers used in herbal drug delivery are also discussed. Finally, a list of nanophyto medicines that have entered clinical trials since 2010, as well as those that the FDA has approved, is presented.