Targeted drug delivery strategies for precision medicines

Progress in the field of precision medicine has changed the landscape of cancer therapy. Precision medicine is propelled by technologies that enable molecular profiling, genomic analysis and optimized drug design to tailor treatments for individual patients. Although precision medicines have resulted in some clinical successes, the use of many potential therapeutics has been hindered by pharmacological issues, including toxicities and drug resistance. Drug delivery materials and approaches have now advanced to a point where they can enable the modulation of a drug’s pharmacological parameters, without compromising the desired effect on molecular targets. Specifically, they can modulate a drug’s pharmacokinetics, stability, absorption and exposure to tumours and healthy tissues, and facilitate the administration of synergistic drug combinations. This Review highlights recent progress in precision therapeutics and drug delivery, and identifies opportunities for strategies to improve the therapeutic index of cancer drugs and, consequently, clinical outcomes. Precision medicine identifies the optimal treatment strategy for an individual patient. Such personalized therapies can be greatly improved by targeted drug delivery approaches. This Review investigates the integration of targeted drugs, in particular, kinase inhibitors, with targeted drug delivery systems.