Book excerpt: Dr. Catalano has for the last ten years been doing consulting for the Pharmaceutical Industry. During his consulting he discovered that small businesses such as, generic, startups, and virtual companies do not have the budget or the resources to apply the computer software utilized in project management and therefore do not apply project management principles in their business model. This reduces their effectiveness and increases their operating cost. Application of Project Management Principles to the Management of Pharmaceutical R&D Projects is presented as a paper-based system for completing all the critical activities needed apply the project management system. This will allow these small business to take advantage of the project management principles and gain all the advantages of the system. This book will be beneficial for beginners to understand the concepts of project management and for small pharmaceutical companies to apply the principles of project management to their business model.