Provided herein are new compositions and methods to target pharmaceutical agents to pathological areas by utilizing bifunctional fusion polymers or nanoparticles. These fusion polymers and nanoparticles contain two or more domains: (i) sequences that bind to exposed collagenous (XC-) proteins present in pathological areas, including cancerous lesions and (ii) domains that bind to pharmaceutical agents. The drug-binding functionality of these fusion polymers and nanoparticles is based on high-affinity, non-covalent interactions.