Public Value Mapping of Equity in Emerging Nanomedicine in Cancer

The emerging field of nanomedicine holds great promise for transforming both cancer research and clinical approaches to cancer care. Nanomedicine is currently being used and developed to: 1) detect cancer at its earliest stages, 2) pinpoint the location of cancerous cells within the body, 3) deliver cancer-fighting drugs to specific cells, and 4) assess the effectiveness of treatment. With portals to early access to emerging and promising technologies like nanomedicine, specifically clinical trials, facing logical and empirically-evidenced barriers for racial and ethnic minorities, there are many aspects of public policies for emerging nanomedicine in cancer that need greater attention in terms of social justice. Success in the development of practical applications of nanomedicine for cancer and its equitable distribution of benefits and risks is a significant public health issue. It is the essence of the National Institute of Health's translational research imperative. This paper uses the evolving theory of public value mapping, where societal imperatives for public policy are analyzed in non-economic terms, to examine the discourse on nanomedicine and its expected public health imperatives, focusing on equity in access to promising nanomedicine technologies. After analyzing public value statements in over 100 public documents of 24 stakeholders in the development of nanomedicine for cancer, I find evidence that basic or bench-level researcher awareness of public values, especially equity in access to nanomedicine for cancer, is lacking. Policy recommendations to address potential public values failure and challenges to social justice aspects of nanomedicine translational research are presented.