Preface to the First Edition The introduction of the first successful drug delivery system brought about tremendous inte est in the us into the marketplace and many are now in different stages of product devel opment.Lately,a plethora of drug delivery departments and companies have emerged partly as a result of surging interest in generic drug development and continued technological advances are occurring in this area of pharma- ce utical research. The main goal of this book has been to collect current information in one volume to further research in drug delivery and to serve as an introduc- tion to the various systems.The aim has also been simply to identify areas of potential and real improvement in the drug treatment of disease as well as to review the different approaches and methods of assessment of novel drug deliv This be contains introductory and state-of-the-art information on lipo somes,monoclonal antibodies,use of polymers,implants,oral,transdermal, miscellaneous,intranasal,and ocular forms of drug delivery.Finally,a liter- ature review on the regulatory and global aspects of drug delivery systems nted.Obviously,in this rapidly expanding field,several in must ha nown by carly 1994,wheh most of the literature was collecter e occu ed d spite 0 orts to include ific advances k We hope this effort will prove to be of value to scientists,clinicians,and product development personnel seeking information in this area and this compilation of the introductory data should serve as a useful resource tool. Theednd oeptsdbed in this book are not ouwn do we make any claims indicating such a notio n nor do we se any credit.We are indebted to scientists and authors for their permission to use or include their research work.Particularly,we express our appreciation to the following:Drs.G.Gregoriadis,U.Persson,F.H.Roerdink,R.L.Juliano and D.Mufson for liposomes,Drs.E.Tomlinson,I.Schlom,W.Lebherz,G.F. Rowland and T.Suzuta for monoclonal antibodies,Drs.F.G.Hutchinson and I.B.Ll oyd for use of polymers Drs.F.The uwes and M.Sefton for implant Drs.D.Ganderton and S.S.Davis for oral drug delivery,Dr.B.W.Barry for transdermal drug delivery,Drs.Y.W.Chien,K.S.E.Su and D.Proctor for intranasal and ocular drug delivery,Capsugel Americas and SoloHill Engi- Preface to the First Edition The introduction of the first successful drug delivery system brought about tremendous interest in the usage of delivery systems for entry of drugs into the systemic circulation of the body. Several drug delivery products followed into the marketplace and many are now in different stages of product devel￾opment. Lately, a plethora of drug delivery departments and companies have emerged partly as a result of surging interest in generic drug development and continued technological advances are occurring in this area of pharma￾ceutical research. The main goal of this book has been to collect current information in one volume to further research in drug delivery and to serve as an introduc￾tion to the various systems. The aim has also been simply to identify areas of potential and real improvement in the drug treatment of disease as well as to review the different approaches and methods of assessment of novel drug delivery. This book contains introductory and state-of-the-art information on lipo￾somes, monoclonal antibodies, use of polymers, implants, oral, transdermal, miscellaneous, intranasal, and ocular forms of drug delivery. Finally, a liter￾ature review on the regulatory and global aspects of drug delivery systems is presented. Obviously, in this rapidly expanding field, several important omissions must have occurred despite our efforts to include significant advances known by early 1994, when most of the literature was collected. We hope this effort will prove to be of value to scientists, clinicians, and product development personnel seeking information in this area and this compilation of the introductory data should serve as a useful resource tool. The research ideas and concepts described in this book are not our own and neither do we make any claims indicating such a notion nor do we seek any credit. We are indebted to scientists and authors for their permission to use or include their research work. Particularly, we express our appreciation to the following: Drs. G. Gregoriadis, U. Persson, F.H. Roerdink, R.L. Juliano and D. Mufson for liposomes, Drs. E. Tomlinson, J. Schlom, W. Lebherz, G.F. Rowland and T. Suzuta for monoclonal antibodies, Drs. F.G. Hutchinson and J.B. Lloyd for use of polymers, Drs. F. Theeuwes and M. Sefton for implants, Drs. D. Ganderton and S.S. Davis for oral drug delivery, Dr. B.W. Barry for transdermal drug delivery, Drs. Y.W. Chien, K.S.E. Su and D. Proctor for intranasal and ocular drug delivery, Capsugel Americas and SoloHill Engi-