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In a 2012 market report, 7468 oral products were marketed, or approved for marketing. Injectables accounted for approximately 3000 products. Many medium and large innovators, generic pharmaceutical companies and contract R&D organisations are capitalised to develop and manufacture these dosage forms on an industrial scale. Other commercially important but less common dosage forms, mentioned in the report, included: ophthalmic, inhalation and transdermal drug delivery systems. These will be considered in this chapter. Many other highly specialised drug delivery systems are commercially available, however, few have become commercially important as yet. These less common dosage forms and novel drug delivery systems are generally developed and commercialised by specialist laboratories. Pharmaceutical scientists, working in these specialised areas, will become expert in the development and manufacture of such products by experience. Others may have to procure services from specialist providers, in addition to their conventional dosage form development duties, and should acquire an understanding of the formulation science principles to manage external projects effectively. This chapter will introduce the fundamental formulation principles of these more commercially important, less common dosage forms. It is not intended to be a detailed discussion of the underlying science at the state of the art, however, the references have been selected carefully to provide a portal into the work of world-leading scientists in these fields. Pharmaceutical scientists contemplating a career in specialist dosage form design and manufacture or those procuring such services will hopefully find this chapter useful.

Semitransparent OPV modules fabricated at Konarka production facility and laminated between two pieces of flexible barrier films and glass sheets meet IEC-61646 environmental chamber tests as required for thin film based photovoltaic modules. These flexible and rigid OPV modules respectively demonstrated less than 4% and 8% efficiency changes after damp heat, thermal cycling and a sequence test. For the first time, these tests confirm that OPV laminated in flexible barriers or between rigid glass sheets can withstand critical IEC stress test. Third party evaluations were performed by TUV Rheinland in its Solar Energy Assessment Center in Cologne, Germany.

The development of human cell therapy and gene therapy products has progressed internationally. Efforts have been made to address regulatory challenges in the evaluation of quality, efficacy, and safety of the products. In this forum, updates on the specific challenges in quality, efficacy, and safety of products in the view of international development were shared through the exchange of information and opinions among experts from regulatory authorities, academic institutions, and industry practitioners. Sessions identified specific/critical points to consider for the evaluation of human cell therapy and gene therapy products that are different from conventional biological products; common approaches and practices among regulatory regions were also shared. Certain elements of current international guidelines might not be appropriate to be applied to these products. Further, international discussion on the concept of potency and in vivo tumorigenicity studies, among others, is needed. This forum concluded that the continued collective actions are expected to promote international convergence of regulatory approaches of the products. The Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency and Japanese Society for Regenerative Medicine jointly convened the forum with support from the National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition. Participants at the forum include 300 experts in and outside of Japan.

Cle continues its series of accounts of classroom practice with books that teachers have found successful as “class readers” with their students. Stephen Wicks is Head of the English Department at Camborne Comprehensive School in Cornwall. He has chosen an American novel, Theodore Taylor'sThe Cay, which he reads with classes of thirteen-year-old boys and girls drawn from the whole ability range. Barbara Hall is in her second year of teaching at The Woodrush Comprehensive School, near Birmingham. She teaches Stan Barstow'sA Kind of Loving to classes of average ability who are taking the Certificate in Secondary Education in English Literature.