Drug development still takes eight years, despite faster FDA review, says Tufts

While the US Food and Drug Administration Drug has quickened review and approval of new medicines, the complex nature of diseases for which new  therapeutics are being developed has resulted in longer clinical  program times, according to the Tufts Center Study of Drug Development  for the Study of Drug Development.

The average time for the FDA to approve new drugs declined to 1.1 years  in the 2005-07 period, but longer average clinical phase terms mean  combined clinical and approval time continues to hover around eight  years, according to Tufts CSDD. "Even though the total time to bring new  drugs to market has remained essentially unchanged in recent years, drug  developers are making progress," said Tufts CSDD director Kenneth  Kaitin, who made his comments in connection with the release of the  organization's Outlook 2009 report on pharmaceutical and  biopharmaceutical trends.

Factors leading to longer studies