In the late 1980s, it became painfully evident to the pharmaceutical industry that the old paradigm of drug discovery, which involved highly segmented drug - sign and development activities, would not produce an acceptable success rate in the future. Therefore, in the early 1990s a paradigm shift occurred in which drug design and development activities became more highly integrated. This new str- egy required medicinal chemists to design drug candidates with structural f- tures that optimized pharmacological (e. g. , high affinity and specificity for the target receptor), pharmaceutical (e. g. , solubility and chemical stability), bioph- maceutical (e. g. , cell membrane permeability), and metabolic/pharmacokinetic (e. g. , metabolic stability, clearance, and protein binding) properties. Successful implementation of this strategy requires a multidisciplinary team effort, incl- ing scientists from drug design (e. g. , medicinal chemists, cell biologists, en- mologists, pharmacologists) and drug development (e. g. , analytical chemists, pharmaceutical scientists, physiologists, and molecular biologists representing the disciplines of pharmaceutics, biopharmaceutics, and pharmacokinetics/drug metabolism). With this new, highly integrated approach to drug design now widely utilized by the pharmaceutical industry, the editors of this book have provided the sci- tific community with case histories to illustrate the nature of the interdisciplinary interactions necessary to successfully implement this new approach to drug d- covery. In the first chapter, Ralph Hirschmann provides a historical perspective of why this paradigm shift in drug discovery has occurred.

Pharmaceutical scientists in industry and academia will appreciate this single reference for its detailed experimental procedures for conducting biopharmaceutical studies. This well-illustrated guide allows them to establish, validate, and implement commonly used in situ and in vitro model systems. Chapters provide ready access to these methodologies for studies of the intestinal, buccal, nasal and respiratory, vaginal, ocular, and dermal epithelium as well as the endothelial and elimination barriers.

Pharmaceutical scientists in industry and academia will appreciate this single reference for its detailed experimental procedures for conducting biopharmaceutical studies. This well-illustrated guide allows them to establish, validate, and implement commonly used in situ and in vitro model systems. Chapters provide ready access to these methodologies for studies of the intestinal, buccal, nasal and respiratory, vaginal, ocular, and dermal epithelium as well as the endothelial and elimination barriers.