About Pharmaceutics

Pharmaceutics is the science of drug delivery. It is much more than a single area of science; it encompasses a spectrum of diverse scientific disciplines. The domain of research extends from fundamental studies of the physicochemical properties of drugs and related molecules to dosage forms and delivery systems, including investigations of the mechanisms of various physiological processes which impact on the delivery of drugs to specific sites of action and, therefore, on their therapeutic effectiveness. The complexity and size of drug molecules and problems in their delivery have grown, providing new and expanded challenges for pharmaceutical scientists. Protein pharmaceuticals and gene delivery methods are providing additional exciting opportunities.

Researchers in pharmaceutics or pharmaceutical chemistry must have sufficient breadth and depth in physical chemistry, organic chemistry, mathematics, biotechnology, and the biological sciences in order to solve research problems which quite often require mastering basic science concepts from multiple disciplines.

The University of Utah Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry is recognized world-wide as one of the leading departments in this discipline.