On June 28-29, 1990 in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, the International Association of Inflammation societies (IAIS) organized their first symposium on Drugs in Inflammation. The symposium was an official satellite of the Ixth International Congress of Pharmacology (IUPHAR). This volume contains the proceedings from this satellite meeting. The IAIS was constituted in 1988 when representatives of the Inflammation Research Association (IRA), European Workshop on Inflammation (EWI) and British Inflammation Research Association (BIRAs) met at White Haven, Pennsylvania during the Fourth International Conference of the IRA and the group decided that improved communication between inflammation societies could be achieved by establishment of a society. The IAIS would encourage and foster collaboration between the many inflammation societies throughout the world and assist in the establishment of new societies whenever possible. The satellite was a major success thanks to the efforts of the planning committee: Wim van den Berg, the local organizer, Mike Bray, the programme chairman, Rodger McMillan, Greg Harper, Mike Parnham and Kay Brune. In addition, the chairman and presenters ensured the scientific content of the meeting was of a very high standard. Most importantly, the 100 participants from 15 countries made the sessions lively and interactive. The IAIS will hopefully organize additional symposiums in the future. Alan J. Lewis, Ph.D.

"Immunopharmacology" , why not "pharmacoimmunology"? Professor H. O. Schild University College London, 1962 An intact immune response is essential for survival, as is evidenced by the various innate immune deficiency syndromes and by the emergence of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) as a pandemic during the last decade. Substances which stimulate the immune response might contribute to the therapy of AIDS and its precursor, AIDS-related syndrome, as well as of other clinical conditions in which immune responses can be diminished, such as carcinoma and infections. In other circumstances, an intact or heightened immune response may pose clinical problems; hence there is need to suppress, or diminish, components of the immune response. For instance, it is necessary to impair cellular immunity in order to ensure lasting acceptance of heterografts and it is already established that agents effective in transplantation are therapeutically effective in an range of autoimmune diseases. More recently, experimental studies have indicated that aberrant manifestations of humoral immunity, as in allergies, may also be amenable to pharmacological intervention.