Introduction: pharmaceutics and drug delivery.

Abstract

This theme issue of AAPS PharmSci is primarily intended to capture the contents of presentations made at the AAPS Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery Conference held in April 2002. This meeting was the first conference sponsored by AAPS to focus on bringing to participants the latest information in the fields of drug delivery technology and pharmaceutics. The scientific presentations made at the meeting, and the follow up articles appearing in this issue represent the leading edge of pharmaceutical sciences. This journal issue is therefore also intended to provide a state-of-the-science synopsis of some of the problems facing pharmaceutical scientists today, as well as the approaches being investigated as possible solutions to those problems. As drug discovery processes have evolved in recent years, it has become increasingly common that the physicochemical and biopharmaceutical properties of new drug candidates are such that the development of bioavailable and stable dosage forms can be difficult. In many organizations pharmaceutics has become an integral component of the drug discovery process, so as to improve the properties of drug candidates entering development, reduce the failure rate of drugs in development and to improve the efficiency of development. And drug delivery has never had as important a role in bringing new medicines to patients, and in improving the effectiveness, safety, or compliance of older medicines, as now. Drug delivery technologies are constantly evolving and improving to breech the biological barriers separating drugs from their target sites.