text: The chiral switch concept is illustrated in the diagram. This chiral switch is from (±)-ibuprofen to (S)-(+)-ibuprofen (dexibuprofen). The nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) ibuprofen was the first chiral drug of the NSAID class to be switched to the single-enantiomer version in 1994. The switch was done based on the fact that the (S)-ibuprofen, the eutomer, was over 100-fold more potent as an inhibitor of cycloxygenase-1 (COX-1) enzyme than (R)-ibuprofen. Moreover, ibuprofen, when administered as the racemate, the active (R)-enantiomer undergoes partial unidirectional chiral inversion (approximately 60%) to the (S)-enantiomer. Therefore, the use of the single (S)-ibuprofen was expected to give faster onset of action at a lower dosage. Further, while choosing the chiral drug candidate for a chiral switch one should take a look at the chiral inversion tendency of the molecule. For instance, thalidomide, the sedative drug, undergoes bidirectional chiral inversion or racemization in biological systems. In such cases chiral switching efforts will be pointless.