Five years have passed since the first edition of Principles of Clinical Pharmacology was published. The second edition remains focused on the principles underlying the clinical use and contemporary development of pharmaceuticals. However, recent advances in the areas of pharmacogenetics, membrane transport, and biotechnology and in our understanding of the pathways of drug metabolism, mechanisms of enzyme induction, and adverse drug reactions have warranted the preparation of this new edition. We are indebted to the authors from the first edition who have worked to update their chapters, but are sad to report that Mary Berg, author of the chapter on Pharmacological Differences between Men and Women, died on October 1, 2004. She was an esteemed.
