Clinical Trials Involving Chemotherapy-Based Nanocarriers in Cancer Therapy: State of the Art and Future Directions

Abstract

Despite significant achievements in cancer treatment, it remains a challenging burden, and there is limited success in the clinical therapy. In recent years, progress in nanotechnology provides plenty of tools to counteract cancer with innovative nanomedicines that can be exploited in intracellular drug delivery. Specifically, the design and development of nanomaterials, such as nanoparticles and hydrogels, aim at achieving smart nanosystems with great multifunctionality and therapeutic potential. In this context, advances in tailored biomaterials for drug delivery as cancer treatment include new strategies to overcome the obstacles and limitations usually encountered with traditional therapeutic agents, thereby reducing the lack of selectivity and side effects. Hence, a big effort is being invested in designing and developing more accurate strategies toward personalized medicine, which has emerged as a promising therapeutic approach with a wide potential to increase treatment outcomes and patient survival. In this chapter, we provide a comprehensive analysis and discuss the development of advanced nanocarriers involving chemotherapeutic agents in clinical trials against multiple types of cancer. We also focus on some reasons that could explain why some treatments fail in clinics.