More than ten percent of pregnant women develop serious complications such as pre-eclampsia and fetal growth restriction (FGR), which cause significant morbidity and mortality. Despite the ability to identify women at risk of these conditions and detect reduced fetal growth and impaired utero-placental blood flow mid gestation, current treatment options are limited to induction of labour, early delivery and neonatal intensive care. In the short term, affected infants are at high risk of developing respiratory distress syndrome, retinopathy of prematurity, cerebral palsy and infection. Moreover, small size at birth is associated with an increased risk of elevated serum cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, stroke, type II diabetes, adiposity and osteoporosis in later life. The primary causes of pre-eclampsia and FGR are poor placental growth or impaired placental function. Several potential therapies that enhance placental function, alleviate maternal symptoms and improve fetal growth in animal models have recently been identified; however, drug trials in human pregnancy are rare because the pharmaceutical industry fears expensive lawsuits associated with adverse side effects and teratogenicity. To address this issue, we have developed novel nanocarriers for targeted delivery of drugs to the placenta, as a means of improving drug efficacy and minimizing side effects in maternal and fetal tissues. We have identified a series of “placental homing peptides” which when intravenously injected, selectively bind to the uterine spiral arteries and surface of the mouse placenta, but do not bind to the vascular beds of other organs. These peptides also bind to, and are retained within, the outer syncytial layer of human placental tissue cultured in vitro. To create biocompatible nanoparticles into which drugs can be packaged, we have synthesized liposomes that display placental homing peptides on their surface. The principles of targeted drug delivery, the design and validation of peptide-decorated liposomes and the potential for this technology improve treatment strategies for pregnancy complications will be discussed.