Biopharmaceutics examines the interrelationship of the physical/chemical properties of the drug, the dosage form (drug product) in which the drug is given, and the route of administration on the rate and extent of systemic drug absorption. The importance of the drug substance and the drug formulation on absorption, and in vivo distribution of the drug to the site of action, is described as a sequence of events that precede elicitation of a drug's therapeutic effect. First, the drug in its dosage form is taken by the patient either by an oral, intravenous, subcutaneous, transdermal, etc, route of administration. Next, the drug is released from the dosage form in a predictable and characterizable manner. Then, some fraction of the drug is absorbed from the site of administration into either the surrounding tissue, into the body (as with oral dosage forms), or both. Finally, the drug reaches the site of action.