According to Steven Buzant of the US Food and Drug Administration, the average time it takes to develop, test and approve a new drug is 14-15 years. The company developing the drug spends an average of $800 Million to get the drug to market. Buzant presented these statistics to the Parkinson’s Action Network this week in Washington DC.
The forum also heard from Christoper P. Austin, MD, with the National Human Genome Research Institute (an NIH affiliate). He described the problem with getting possible medications and therapies from the laboratory to clinical trials. Products are often developed in university laboratories. The handoff between those laboratories and drug companies is not always smooth. That handoff is called translational research. Dr. Austin’s position with the NIH is to advance translational research, and help bring more drugs into the pipeline.
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