2. Use as medicines

2.1 A promising future for many diseases

Nanoparticles can be considered in several ways.

• Or directly as a drug in its own right: the pharmaceutical action is directly provided by the particle (functionalized or not). According to the French Public Health Code, "a medicinal product is any substance or composition presented as having curative or preventive properties in respect of human or animal diseases, as well as any substance or composition which may be used in or administered to human beings or animals, with a view to establishing a medical diagnosis or to restoring, correcting or modifying their physiological functions by exerting a pharmacological, immunological or metabolic action".