ABSTRACT
Drug metabolism research has grown from a desire to understand the workings of the human body in chemical terms to a major force in the effort to develop drugs tailored to the individual. A dramatic impact of metabolism occurred with the launch of prontosil, the first major antibacterial agent. The products of metabolism are determined by the reaction mechanism of the enzymes involved and by the chemical structure of the reactant. The formation of reactive intermediates is of particular concern in the development of new agents. The progress in drug metabolism is paralleled by, indeed dependent on, the advances in bioanalytical techniques. The drug-metabolizing enzymes showed early indications of genetic polymorphism on the basis of the individual variations in therapeutic effectiveness. The evolution of drug metabolism research has changed the role of the drug metabolism scientist in a most dramatic fashion. The metabolism scientist must be able to develop a compound profile detailing all the nuances involved in proposed therapy.
