Drug Discovery and Evaluation: Pharmacological Assays

The new edition of this successful reference offers both cutting-edge and classic pharmacological methods. Thoroughly revised and expanded to two volumes, it offers an updated selection of the most frequently used assays for reliably detecting the pharmacological effects of potential drugs. Every chapter has been updated, and numerous assays have been added. Each of the more than 1,000 assays comprises a detailed prool outlining purpose and rationale, and a critical assessment of the results and their pharmacological and clinical relevance.

The rapid progress in biology will continue to change the methodological approach to drug discovery in the coming years. Electronic media will continuously help researchers to access and share information. It is, however, becoming more and more evident that many young pharmacologists have only limited training in classical pharmacological methodologies. These long-standing and still highly relevant methods are simply not available in the electronic databases. Drug Discovery and Evaluation:Pharmacological Assays bridges this gap by comprehensively covering the pharmacological methods that have been utilized successfully for more than a hundred years as well as the latest technologies.

The classical methods and the newest technologies, all in one book!

The 3rd edition of this successful reference book contains an updated selection of the most frequently used assays for reliably detecting the pharmacological effects of potential drugs. Effects covered include cardiovascular, analgesic, endocrine, psychotropic, respiratory, renal, and immunomodulatory activities. Each of the more than 1000 assays comprises a detailed protocol outlining the purpose and rationale of the method, a critical assessment of the results and their pharmacological and clinical relevance. In addition, animal models of rare diseases are described.

For this third edition, all existing chapters have been revised and completely updated. A large number of assays were added: we are now publishing two volumes. Sections that have been specifically enlarged include - Pharmacological assays in thrombosis and haemostasis (formerly called activity of blood constituents), - Antidiabetic activity (includes completely new chapters such as Biochemical Methods in Diabetology), - Anti-atherosclerotic activity.

Audience: Pharmacologists and Pharmacists in Academia and Industry

H. Gerhard Vogel is a licenced Pharmacist and Physician (Universities of Erlangen and Tübingen, Germany). He taught as Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the Universities Marburg and Frankfurt. He joined Research at the pharmaceutical company Hoechst AG, Frankfurt, to become Head of Endocrinology, Head of the Department of Pharmacology, and the Head of International Preclinical Evaluation and Development. His latest position was Head of the Decision Board on Pharmaceutical Development. At present, he is working as a Consultant for Pharmaceutical and Medical Research and Development.

His scientific work was devoted to the elaboration of new pharmacological methods, pharmacology of plant extracts from various countries, pharmacology of steroid hormones, pharmacology of peptide hormones, pharmacology of cardiac glycosides, biomechanics and biochemistry of connective tissue, experimental gerontology, experimental dermatology, and development procedures for pharmaceutical products. H. Gerhard Vogel has published more than 160 papers, mainly on new pharmacological methods, on endocrinology (in particular peptide endocrinology), biomechanics and biochemistry of connective tissue, such as skin and bone, and on other topics. He is a member of many international and national scientific societies and a co-editor and contributor to several scientific textbooks.

Together with Wolfgang H. Vogel he published the first edition of Drug Discovery and Evaluation: Pharmacological Assays (Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York) in 1997. The second completely revised, updated and enlarged edition with many contributions by his colleagues was published in 2002. The third edition of that work will appear in late 2007. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the book Drug Discovery and Evaluation: Safety and Pharmacokinetic Assays, which was published at Springer as well.