One privilege of working in the health service today is the enormous range of effective therapies available to us. Advances in surgical techniques, tools, and materials have been more than matched by the vast number of pharmaceutical products addressing an ever wider range of conditions. Even for conditions where treatments have been available for many years, newer agents may be more potent, have less adverse or unwanted effects, and be easier to take than their predecessors. This is a huge contribution by the pharmaceutical industry.