The book provides an up-to-date survey on newinsights and technologies - as well as ethicalconsiderations - , since traditional means and methods ofdrug research and drug development may no longer suffice tomeet the challenges of the next century.

History and Philosophy of Bayer Pharmaceutical Research.- Science, Responsibility, and Society.- Opening Remarks.- Message of Greeting.- I. Unresolved Problems of Chronic Diseases.- Demographic and Epidemiologic Trends Today.- Atherosclerosis and Coronary Heart Disease.- Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Modell of Chronic Inflammation.- Alzheimer’s Disease.- Obstructive Lung Disease.- Biological Approaches to Cancer Therapy.- Challenges and Obstacles hi Clinical Evaluations of Therapy.- Problems, Pitfalls, and Opportunities in Long-term Randomized Trials.- The Impact of Clinical Trials on Clinical Practice.- Panel Discussion I: Cost Effectiveness of Drug Development and Health Economics.- II. Advanced Technologies, Scientific Achievements.- Receptors and Messengers.- Low Density Lipoproteins and Hypercholesterolemia.- Leukotrienes in Airways and Blood Vessels.- Drug Design.- Opening Remarks.- Thoughts About Gene Regulation and Mammalian Development.- Protein Crystallography and Drug Design.- Applying Engineering Principles to the Design of Cellular Biology.- Analytical Pathophysiology and Biochemistry.- Opening Remarks.- Neurotransmitters in the Brain.- Mechanisms of Cancer Metastasis.- Panel Discussion II: Objectives of Basic Research and Predictive Value Preclinical Testing.- The Patient as a Subject to Medical Research.- Ethics of Drug Research and Drug Development.- The Functions of Ethical Committees.- Reduction of Risk to Patients Through Optimized Planning of Clinical Drug Development.- The Quality of Life of Hypertensive Patients in Long-term Studies.- Panel Discussion III: Who is Concerned with Patient Welfare in Research?.- Concluding Remarks.