Hemp Therapies Wiki / Liposomal Delivery Systems

History and Origin of Liposomal Technology

Liposomes were first described in scientific literature in 1965 by British hematologist Alec Bangham, together with co-authors Jeff Watkins and Malcolm Standish.

The Original Discovery

Bangham’s 1965 paper, published in the Journal of Molecular Biology, examined how ions diffuse across the layered membranes formed by hydrated phospholipids. The research was conducted at the Institute of Animal Physiology in Babraham, near Cambridge, England, where electron microscopy revealed that phospholipid dispersions formed closed, cell-sized vesicle structures. Bangham initially referred to these structures as “multilamellar smectic mesophases,” and informally as “Banghasomes”; the term “liposome” was later proposed by researcher Gerald Weissmann.

From Lab Model to Delivery Vehicle

Bangham’s research identified early on that these closed lipid membranes had potential as a means of carrying drugs and other materials into biological cells. Liposome-based drug delivery moved from laboratory research into commercial pharmaceutical use over the following decades, culminating in regulatory approval of the first liposomal cancer drug in the 1990s — a history covered in more detail on this wiki’s page about liposomal technology’s pharmaceutical and regulatory history.

Summary

Liposomes originated as a 1965 laboratory tool for studying cell membranes, not as a delivery technology — their use for carrying drugs and nutrients was recognized early on but took decades to reach commercial pharmaceutical approval.