The Heller lab at MSKCC has discovered that poorly soluble kinase inhibitors mixed with specific indocyanine dye excipients will spontaneously form nanoparticles with very high (90% by mass) drug loadings, and that these dyes specifically target certain tumors while maintaining high blood stability. These nanoparticles offer the potential for avoiding both off- and on-pathway toxicities while delivering high quantities of targeted kinase inhibitors directly to tumors.