The aim of this volume is to provide coverage of all techniques and applications used by the pharmaceutical industry and academia to characterize the drug substances, exipients and polymers in pharmaceutical preformulation. The techniques discussed are both classical and modern, and reflect recent developments as well as explaining such long-standing techniques as differential thermal analysis (DTA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). The text investigates several important new techniques with valuable potential in drug formulations, including creams, ointments and medicines. It also relates progress in the exciting and fast-developing area of chemical and drug implants. Written at postgraduate and research level, this text is also accessible to the advanced undergraduate wishing to learn more about the topic, and will be of benefit to those in related areas, including polymer science, analytical chemistry and microbiological quality control.