Leon Shargel was a name that I was very familiar with, when in 1999 I had the pleasure of meeting him for the first time at a Pharmaceutical Industry meeting. I am not sure if it was at the Annual AAPS meeting or if it was at what was then a national US generic industry meeting (National Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (NAPM)), but I thought I was meeting a “giant” at the time, being extremely familiar with the textbook “Applied Biopharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics” as I possessed personally all of the previous editions and I was recommending this particular textbook to all my pharmacy students when teaching the two graduate PK courses at the University of Montreal. Leon came to talk to me and was genuinely interested in what I was doing and what I was thinking from a PK point of view on a wide variety of topics, not just asking me complicated questions (which I was expecting) but also what felt to me at the time to be very simple and already “addressed” questions. I was too “star-struck” at the time to fully understand his thinking and rationale for asking me this range of questions, and for considering my opinion when at the time I had evolved academically, yes, but I was quite a junior in the industrial and regulatory field. Of course, now I know that whatever we think has been fully addressed and is “known,” is never really fully addressed and known. Science evolves all the time and one has to pick the “brain” of others to make sure that one’s understanding of things is always large enough and one always remains open scientifically to controversial and differing opinions. We have always stayed in touch on at least a yearly basis since then, and it was a pleasant shock again when he proposed to me to join him for this new edition of what I consider to be the “bible” in the field. Through Leon, I have got to know Andy, who is as humble, open-minded and interesting scientifically. Leon and Andy, thank you so much for allowing me to contribute to your great book!
Being the “new kid on the block” I had a few ideas for change, and appropriately as the “wise elders” that they are, Leon and Andy have agreed to some while respectfully disagreeing on others but have been the “open minded” scientists that I have come to respect. Some of the changes that we are presenting in this edition come from the realization that the teaching and understanding of PK/PD does not come from a “silo” approach where everything is known academically or clinically, or in industry, or by regulators. It has to be at the forefront of these three areas where they each contribute. A good PK/PD scientist does not only need to know the academic and clinical side of PK, but also has to understand the Industry and regulatory side. This is a big change from the early editions of this textbook and of the others that populate this space. I hope you will like this edition as much as we liked putting it together.
Murray P. Ducharme
Montreal, Canada