The authors have done a fantastic job in producing this latest edition of Pharmaceutical Substances as a single volume of over 1700 pages. As a process research and development chemist, I appreciate the detailed reaction schemes which inform me how every drug on the market can be made and the detailed references to, not only the published literature, but to patents. I am also pleased to see that the current volume has many references to Organic Process Research and Development Journal.

This volume will appeal not only to R&D chemists, but to many scientists in widely differing functions, particularly to those in the generics industry and to companies in the fine chemicals industry looking to supply intermediates for key drugs. It will also be extremely useful to anyone, whether in the academic community or in industry, who needs a source of information on details of the 1300 drugs currently on the market.

The convenient one-volume format has been achieved by not describing drugs which are no longer on the market (which are covered in the electronic version). All entries in this book have been thoroughly updated and the opportunity has been taken to add most of the drugs launched since the last printed edition, published in two volumes in 2001. As a result readers have a more concise encyclopaedia, enhanced by excellent indexing enabling information to be easily retrieved.

Updating such a substantial reference work is a mammoth task and all who have been involved in this venture deserve to be congratulated on their tremendous achievement.