Drug
development is a long process whose main content includes
drug synthesis, drug delivery, and drug evaluation. Compared with
conventional drug development procedures, microfluidics has emerged
as a revolutionary technology in that it offers a miniaturized and
highly controllable environment for bio(chemical) reactions to take
place. It is also compatible with analytical strategies to implement
integrated and high-throughput screening and evaluations. In this
review, we provide a comprehensive summary of the entire microfluidics-based
drug development system, from drug synthesis to drug evaluation. The
challenges in the current status and the prospects for future development
are also discussed. We believe that this review will promote communications
throughout diversified scientific and engineering communities that
will continue contributing to this burgeoning field.