Pharmaceutical Analysis A Textbook For Pharmacy Students And Pharmaceutical Chemists Fourth Edition

Preface

The major revision to this edition is the addition of two new chapters: one on the
quality control of biotechnologically produced drugs and the other (thanks to Dr

Bhavik Patel) on the use of electrochemical techniques in point of care diagnos-
tics. The applications of both these areas will see rapid expansion in the next few

years. Although they are at opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of instrumental
complexity they are both important with regard to personalised medicine. They
are also connected in the sense that the ability to couple biological sensing to a

reading, such as that produced by an electrochemical test, will become increas-
ingly refined as the range of biomolecules produced by biotechnology which can

be coupled to such tests expands. The genii of biotechnology is well and truly
out of the bottle and will transform our ability to treat currently difficult to
manage diseases.
Fortunately for the enthusiastic pharmaceutical analyst this throws up some
difficult challenges with regard to the quality control of complex molecules which
ensures that both interest and employment in the field will continue and expand.
Even large proteins, such as monoclonal antibodies, have fairly well defined
structures but perhaps an additional challenge in the future will be with regard
to the quality control of stem cell technologies. There may even be a role for the

pharmaceutical analyst here, since complex systems always provide a character-
istic fingerprint which can be assessed by analytical technologies.

It is approaching 20 years since the first edition of this book and judging by
demand, it remains relevant. I continue to learn more about my subject each day
and I still like to get out a spanner and tackle the nuts and bolts of making high
quality analytical measurements.