The pipelines of pharmaceutical companies are in many cases believed to be drying up and many blockbuster drugs are expected to be coming off patent in the near term. The application of nanotechnology to drug delivery is widely expected to create novel therapeutics capable of changing the landscape for pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. This editorial highlights the nanotechnology platforms that are under development or in clinical use today, and points to exciting areas of opportunity where nanotechnology may enable the development of more effective and safer targeted therapeutics for a myriad of clinical applications.