Polymeric micelles: précis for past, present and future

In nanomedicine today, tackling drug delivery–related issues is key. Nanosized drug delivery vehicles and carriers represent a cornerstone in the ongoing research and translational efforts for drug development, formulation, evaluation, characterization and optimization. Indeed, self-assembled amphiphilic polymers, or aggregation colloids (in solution), commonly referred to as polymeric micelles, for example, continue to represent an invaluably desirable and much pursued small-scale pharmaceutical tool that is easy to formulate, characterize, and sterilize, mainly for overcoming critical issues in drug delivery and administration, including low solubility in biological fluids and poor drug permeability across biological barriers. Yet challenges, for example, related to post-administration stability and behavior (pre-clinical and clinical), continue to drive research, development, and innovation efforts around the World. In this introductory chapter, a concise presentation and discussion of the past, present, and future of polymeric micelles, including characterization and fine-tuning parameters, methods of preparation and drug loading, and challenges, is presented.