Drug Development: The Short Story
10. Summary

The primary goal in drug development is to create new compounds which can treat previously untreatable diseases, or which offer improved properties when compared to existing drugs. The process of developing a drug is a step-wise series of events, each step building on the results of previous studies. Each new step is also more complex, more expensive, more time consuming, and more prone to failure. This section has attempted to highlight the major milestones in drug development.

You have completed the Introduction to Drug Development course. The courses which will follow, Discovery Research and Drug Development will utilize case studies for several drugs to examine these areas in detail. These courses will be developed over the next several months.