Franz Gross died suddenly during preparations for the meeting. He would have taken great pleasure in summarizing in this preface the aims and results of a gathering which so clearly bore his imprint as Chairman of the Scientific Program Committee. His sudden passing away is deeply regretted by all of us: organizers, speakers and participants. We greatly respect him for his exceptional abilities, his impact on science and his qualities as a human being. He provided the impulse for a well balanced and topical scientific program. We therefore dedicate the proceedings of this symposium to his memory. Munich was the fifth in a traditional line of international meetings of pharmaceutical physicians held at three-year intervals, starting in London in 1972 ('International Aspects of Drug Evaluation and Usage'), and followed by Florence in 1975 (, Rationality of Drug Development'), Brussels in 1978 (, Pharmaceutical Medicine - the Future') and Paris in 1981 ('Drug Safety -;- Progress and Controversies'). This 5th meeting discussed improvements in drug development and application and examined the impact of regulatory activities.