An overview about biopharmaceutics in Europe

In Europe, the concept of biopharmaceutics was first introduced at the end of the 70s by various highly informed young Europeans who took into full account the publications and studies carried out by the first generation of explorers in this area in the United States such as John Wagner, Gerhard Levy, and W.A. Ritschel, amongst others. Their primary aim was to develop bioavailability studies for the registration of generics or new dosage forms. They then worked on setting up a new system for drug dissolution in vitro, including in vitro and in vivo correlations to better define the formulations. All this research led to the publication of numerous reports on different congresses, the most important of these being the European Congress of Biopharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics, which is held once every two years in a European country and includes a large number of participants with an attendance ranging from 300 to 500 persons. During this same period, books were published in French and other European languages such as English, German and Spanish, with the result that updated information was efficiently circulated throughout all European countries. In the near future, the introduction of the biopharmaceutical classification as well as new in vitro models will certainly make a positive contribution to the further development of research in this area.