Preface [Hot Topic: Special Editorial Board Issue (Guest Editor: Christian Bailly)]

The pages of Current Medicinal Chemistry - Anti-Cancer Agents - Anti-Cancer Agents (CMC-ACA) are usually devoted to review articles on specific, well defined subjects. I thought that this strict, conventional format could be temporarily modulated to led more space to opinions and critical ideas. Expressing general views and comments is also a legitimate function of a journal like CMC-ACA devoted to covering the anti-cancer enterprise in its entirety. It is interesting to comment on current strategic issues that involve the anti-cancer field. To do so, the member of the Editorial Board have been solicited to contribute to short (but sharp) letters, mainly to express their point of view on our field of research. The development of anticancer agents has taken new directions over the past few years with the increased design of target-oriented compounds. “Where is antitumor pharmacology going ?”. This is the question addressed in this issue of CMC-ACA. Of course there is no simple answer to that question but problems and strengths have been identified to propose solutions and raise novel approaches for the development of efficient anticancer drugs. Many members of the editorial board have contributed to this special issue and their contributions are greatly appreciated. A few articles are concerned with accurate, timely and balanced coverage of various elements of the anticancer drug discovery aspects. Other articles are devoted to commentaries on issues that affect our field at the chemical and biological levels. These opinions are intended to stimulate informed discussions among the readers of the journal.