Leading for Innovation: And Organizing for Results

20.2. The Challenge of Discovering New Drugs

The costs of drug discovery and development are escalating every year. Today it takes eight to twelve years for one new medicine to come to market, and still only one in every ten thousand substances actually reaches the market. The investments required for developing an innovative new drug have risen over the past two decades tenfold, to an estimated average of around $800 million.

In a recent survey, pharmaceutical industry leaders expressed the opinion that new technologies should begin to lower costs as enhanced technology tools improve the industry's ability to select higher-quality medicines and targets. By the end of this decade, the industry anticipates that it will experience a 65 percent ...