Biorelated polymers: biodegradation, bioactivity and biomedical therapeutic applications

Starting from the concept of biomaterials, criteria related to the respect of the human organism and the need to apply the concept of requirements to biomedical polymers, this article issued from the sessions of the V-3 symposium of the IUPAC World Congress on Macromolecules (Paris, July 4-9, 2004) recalls briefly the present of polymer-based prosthetic devices. It underlines the trends in research to find novel solutions that are more specific to the sector of temporary therapy, especially in surgery with degradable systems, in pharmacology with drug transport and drug targeting based on soft matter, and in tissue engineering.