Topics in Medicinal Chemistry. Volume 1. I l t l i t r t l liy J . I.. R.~RI.UO\VI.IX :iiitl R. .\I. SITBHSOS. Ititet~~i*ie~tce l)ivisioii, ,Johti Wilej- a ~ r dSoil>, Iii(,.: ?;en York. S . I-, 1 0 6 i . xi 45:j 111). 24.5 X 17 r n t . $ l i , i r 5 .
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Edited rnoriographb are mually c~oml~iled by coaxiiig cot1 I i , i h t into writing chapters. Even though the original pl:m :tiiil outline prepared by the editors may represent a unified arid tinic.l>. effort, such plaiis are liable t o fall by the wayside if key contrihuTors drop out for soiiie reason. If such an eveut endaiigers this publication of the hook, tome late subst,itution m i i i haste, and this ill barely ever be as satisfactoi? p h i . Somethiiig like this must have happened to the present Progress in Drug Research. Volume 10. Edited by E. JTCKER. volume, or else :i serious misunderstanding must have beset ihe choice and arratigement of the topics. Rirkhiiuser Verlag, Ranel. 1066. s f 603 pp. 17.3 X 24.7 lIediciiia1 chemihti,y and hiorhemical pharmacology have i i o c p a r ~ e how l their fields of iiiterest should he divided up. I I o w \Ve have come t o iook forward to each new volume in thi.5 rveI, i t i i generally agreed that biologists gladly keep theii, finger. 0111 of orga1iic~prep:irativemethodology, atid mediciti:il ,&es with pleasurable anticipation. These surveys rontaiii (.hemist,to rlitii~~al phaimarology except for that r:rt.i~speric~ing ideas and experiments. It is disappointing to sense a fore{ifR Ph.11. i i i chemistry who also hold.: ail 11.11. degi,ee, aiid whii boding about t h e future of medicinal chemistry in several leadrheniist a r i d as :I clitii&ii. I ani s u w :i(,t1idlyw r k s both iiig artirles in the presetit volume. T h e motivating hapis of this that 99.9f'i of :dl m tin1 chernibts raiitiot aspire t i i such pt'o:tttitude is, of course, the fact that ntedic-iiialdiscovery has slowed ficieticy and wiiuld shy nwa>- from the legal and professioiial reilowii; indeed, the last decwle has heen almost sterile compared to t h e , surging tide of diwiivery from 1930 to 1956. Innovations Ytiictioiis imposed OII the physiciati who tests iiew d ~ , u g sin p:~4iic.e t h e mid-fift ies hsve been largely developments aiid moditiriits. It is thei.efcire qtraiige to f i t i d :t serticiti oii "C'liitiwl ti(4atiiitis hased o i t earlier discoveries. Nobody will deny that .\lediciii:tl Chenii.1 r>." i i t thepreaeiit hook. the structural formulit-, (hie of these chaptety o t i digitalis, li few if :uiy breakthroughs in drug research have appeared in the iimies, compcitieiite, soui'cee, erc., of the major cardiac glpcoside~ rxpantied inedicitial literature of the last 10 years. Some of the reasons for this decline have been extraneous arid which are of clinical importaric~e,before delving into atiimal :ttitl if these whstances. The formulas atid e.setitially at the clinical level: stricter regulation of drugs and ptive: there is n o attempt at correlaticiii, their :ihuses, sparked by the tragedy of teratogenic side effect. ctures and properties with artivity, :t1:tiid k)y the smearing of the picture of drug studies and sales by though these topica form the intellectual core of medicinal chemjio1itii:iati~seekiiig reelection. But where there is smoke there is istry. It is worse in t h e i.h:ipter on oral contraceptives; it does fire, arid some of the a.buses unrovered in the course of such disit111 even have the fot~mulas,:xiid it is purely clinically oriented. cussions and the placebo nature of some widely advertised This holds also for the de iptive chapter 011 radioactive drugs. agents have contributed to the growing distrust, of drugs by the The listing of the chemicals used in diagnostic procedures gives n public. But the real c a w e of the decimation of novel drug tiirs
