This book is based on the proceedings of the symposium entitled "Di­ rected Drug Delivery: A Multidisciplinary Problem," which was held in Lawrence, Kansas on October 17-19, 1984. The purpose of the sym­ posium and this book is to focus on the multidisciplinary nature of drug delivery. Development of a successful drug delivery system re­ quires contributions from various scientific disciplines, including pharmaceutical chemistry, analytical chemistry, medicinal chemistry, biochemistry, pharmacology, toxicology, and clinical medicine. The contents of this volume illustrate the importance of the various disci­ plines in identifying the problems and approaches for the develop­ ment of a rational and effective drug delivery system. Thus the infor­ mation provided herein will be of value not only to the pharmaceutical chemists who are responsible for dosage form design, but also to the pharmacokineticists, pharmacologists, and clinicians involved in bio­ logical evaluation of drug delivery systems. The volume should also be of interest to the analytical chemists who must provide technology to quantitcltively evaluate drug delivery. Additionally, this work will also interest the biochemists and medicinal chemists involved in drug dis­ covery, since the drug delivery system often plays a major role in determining the success or failure of a new drug entity. Each speaker at the symposium was requested to contribute a chapter reviewing the contribution of their major discipline to the de­ velopment of a successful drug delivery system.