Engineering the future of medicine: Hexagonal boron nitride for targeted drug delivery

Targeted drug delivery systems have been developed to improve regenerative treatment and deliver a specific amount of a drug to a dysfunctional region of the body over a long duration of time. This aids in regulating the optimal tissue and plasma drug concentration in the body, preventing any drug-induced harm to healthy tissue. Boron nitride is an emerging carrier that is currently being exploited and its desired carrier features of being nonimmunogenic, biocompatible, nontoxic, biodegradable, and incapable of being recognized by the host’s defensive mechanisms make it ideal in targeted drug delivery. Due to their unique features, hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) nanoparticles are highly suitable for the administration of chemotherapeutics in cancer treatment, as well as in biomedical sciences as nano-transducers and nanocarriers. These inorganic materials have been recognized for their conductivity equivalent to metals, as well as the robustness and simplicity of manufacturing. Furthermore, these materials can deliver drugs across a wide range and in a variety of concentrations. h-BN and its prospective in various targeted drug delivery systems and therapeutic domains have been discussed in this chapter. Current research and development in their functional and structural characteristics, and synthesis, as well as future approaches for clinical applications, have been presented and addressed.