EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF DRUG METABOLISM AND PHARMACOKINETICS, 1984, Vol. 9, No 1, pp. 87-88

NEW BOOK

GRAPHIC APPROACHTO CLINICAL PHARMACOKINETICS

Edited by W.A. Ritschel

Publisher: J.R. Prous, Barcelona. Spain.

A great deal of hope was placed in the possibleusefulness of clinical pharmacokinetic data in rou­tine clinical and prescription practices. Never­theless, as is frequently the case for new disciplines,all is not as simple as it first appears and a numberof conflicting situations have been reported. Thenew generation of practitioners, however, areaware of this and realize the importance of basingtheir prescriptions on very precise criteria. Forthose with this preoccupation, the book «GraphicApproach to Clinical Pharmacokinetics» will beextremely useful. This book is an innovative andsound approach to the understanding of pharma­cokinetics. It describes a technique which allowsany individual who can plot data points to simplyread both the derived pharmacokinetic variables(rate constants and half-lives of elimination, distri­bution and absorption) and the predicted datadirectly from the nomogram without time-consu­ming and complex intervening calculations. Onlythe four basic mathematical operations (addition,substraction, multiplication, division) are involved.

The first part is a simplified introduction to thearea of pharmacokinetics. The second part dis­cusses the development and particularly the use ofthe new graphic approach, explained through thepresentation of 19 examples. This book can be usedas a text book for teaching clinical pharmacokine­tics to medical and pharmacy students as well as bythe clinician and practitioner. It must be borne inmind, however, that this mathematical approach isonly valid for drugs for which the blood levelvalues and pharmacodynamic effect have beendefinitively established. Furthermore, since many

researchers are now using computers with appro­priate programs to obtain this kind of data, itwould have been more persuasive in establishingthe limits of the graphic approach to have providedparallel data obtained by computation. It is to behoped that this will be done in a future edition andthat certain mistakes in calculation would then becorrected.

(Publisher: J.R. Prous, Books Division, Apdo. deCorreos 540, Barcelona, Spain. Orders for U.S. andCanada: Drug Intelligence Publications, 7752Woodmont Avenue, Washington, DC 20814,U.S.A., 88 pages, US$ 20).ISBN 84-401-0932-6.

Dr. A.B.

88 European Journal of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics. /984. No /

NEW BOOKTHE CLINICAL RESEARCH PROCESS INTHE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRYEdited by Gary M. MatorenMarcel Dekker Inc.

Once again, Marcel Dekker has pinpointed avery timely question in publishing this very enlight­ening book edited by Gary M. Matoren who hasdone a fine job of choosing the subjects of thetwenty seven chapters as well as the authors, all ofwhom are professionally involved in the fields. Thevariety of subject matter treated in this book ismuch greater than would be imagined from thetitle. In addition to the usual clinical research prob­lems, which are certainly very thoroughly dealtwith, there are numerous interesting papers con­cerning problems of drug regulation, dealing withHealth Authorities, ethical, and legal aspects, aswell as economic and political implications. Wehighly recommend this dense and informativebook to those involved in drug research, not onlywithin the context of pharmaceutical companiesand regulatory bodies, but also to Universityresearch people, who, too often, unfortunately, areout of contact with the practical realities.

Although the approach to the various problemsreflect essentially the situation in the United States,Scientists from other countries will certainly find itof interest in view of the similarity of their ownproblems as well as the undeniable leadership ofthe United States in this area. (Drug and thePharmaceutical Sciences, volume 19. 576 pages.SFr. 163.-. Marcel Dekker Inc. 270 Madison Ave­nue, New York, N.Y., U.S.A. Europe: Elisabe­thenstr. 19, Basel, SWitzerland).ISBN: 0-8247-1914-X

Dr A.B.

DRUGS AND THE PHARMACEUllCAl SCIENCES VOlUME 19

TheClinical Research

Processin the

Pharmaceutical Industry

edited byGary M. Matoren