Biomaterials are continually being designed that enable new methods for interacting dynamically with cell and tissues, in turn unlocking new capabilities in areas ranging from drug delivery to regenerative medicine. In this review we explore some of the recent advances being made in regards to programming biomaterials for improved drug delivery, with a focus on cancer and infection. We begin by explaining several of the underlying concepts that are being used to design this new wave of drug delivery vehicles, followed by examining recent materials systems that are
able to coordinate the temporal delivery of multiple therapeutics, dynamically respond to changing tissue environments, and reprogram their bioactivity over time.