Book excerpt: Martin's Physical Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences is considered the most comprehensive text available on the application of the physical, chemical and biological principles in the pharmaceutical sciences. It helps students, teachers, researchers, and industrial pharmaceutical scientists use elements of biology, physics, and chemistry in their work and study. Since the first edition was published in 1960, the text has been and continues to be a required text for the core courses of Pharmaceutics, Drug Delivery, and Physical Pharmacy. The Sixth Edition features expanded content on drug delivery, solid oral dosage forms, pharmaceutical polymers and pharmaceutical biotechnology, and updated sections to cover advances in nanotechnology.