ABSTRACT
In the fast-developing field of nanomedicine, a broad variety of materials have been used for the development of advanced delivery systems for drugs, genes, and diagnostic agents. With less carrying capacity, repeated doses of nanoparticles are needed to be administered resulting in the increased chances of drug reaching to the normal cells. Further, if the drug is loaded or encapsulated by non-covalent means, the chances of premature drug release or burst release becomes high. An increasingly important step in this direction has been the development of nano-sized delivery vehicles formed from suitably derivatized drugs that can self-aggregate into well-defined nanostructures-so called self-assembling polymer–drug conjugates (SAPDCs). This chapter presents some glimpses of such SAPDCs while considering the advantages of these modern drug delivery systems. The simple functionalization of known anticancer compounds and the easy formation of nanoparticles make the strategy simple to apply for different types of drugs and biological targets.
