Designing hydrogels for controlled drug delivery

Hydrogel delivery systems can leverage therapeutically beneficial outcomes of drug delivery and have found clinical use. Hydrogels can provide spatial and temporal control over the release of various therapeutic agents, including small-molecule drugs, macromolecular drugs and cells. Owing to their tunable physical properties, controllable degradability and capability to protect labile drugs from degradation, hydrogels serve as a platform on which various physiochemical interactions with the encapsulated drugs occur to control drug release. In this Review, we cover multiscale mechanisms underlying the design of hydrogel drug delivery systems, focusing on physical and chemical properties of the hydrogel network and the hydrogel–drug interactions across the network, mesh and molecular (or atomistic) scales. We discuss how different mechanisms interact and can be integrated to exert fine control in time and space over drug presentation. We also collect experimental release data from the literature, review clinical translation to date of these systems and present quantitative comparisons between different systems to provide guidelines for the rational design of hydrogel delivery systems. Hydrogels can provide spatial and temporal control over the release of various therapeutic agents and have found clinical use. This Review presents multiscale mechanisms underlying hydrogel delivery systems and quantitative comparison between them, while discussing clinical translation and future opportunities.