Clinical pharmacology—Old wine in new bottles?

I think a word is in order about the title, at least the second part of it, i.e., “Old wine in new botttles?” When I was asked to give this lecture, my first impulse was to say yes and to run to my slide file and write a lecture about my favorite topic in pharmacology, beta adrenergic receptors. However, it was suggested that a less scientific topic would be more in keeping with the concept of a Distinguished Guest Lecture, perhaps something such as a pharmacologist's view of clinical pharmacology might be appropriate. Since my second favorite topic in pharmacology is clinical pharmacology, I agreed.