There are many articles and links out there on this subject, but who has the time to find and read it all? Government documents can be especially hard to find and interpret. And there are so many subjects to cover and link together.

Here’s the good news…

Information on how a prescription drug is developed in the pharmaceutical industry has now been summarized in one place in the ebook Why Are Drugs So Expensive.

• Learn how a new drug candidate is put into a tablet or capsule and how they are tested in clinical trials. 
• Learn how generic drugs make it to the market.
• Learn how much time and money all this costs.

I’m a consultant who has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for over 20 years. I was looking for a good overview of the drug development process and found that there was nothing out there that fit the bill. So I decided to write my own. Since I know the pharmaceutical industry, I could readily find the information and compile it into an easy to read book. And Why Are Drugs So Expensive was born.

Ready to start reading? Order now.

This is a great resource if you're interested in how prescription drugs get on the market.

• Are you a businessman interested in investing in drug related areas?  This book will give you the background you need to understand what will be involved in that investment.

• Are you an undergraduate or graduate student considering a career in the pharmaceutical industry? This book outlines many of the disciplines in drug development and can help you decide which areas you want to explore.

• Are you a young pharmaceutical scientist entering the industry?
  The drug development process is laid out before you so you can understand how your work fits in the process and how you can do your job better to get the information that everyone needs.

• Are you a pharmaceutical scientist working in one area of discovery or development and would like to increase your knowledge of the other areas? This book will give you the big picture view of what is going on so you can understand what has happened before you get the drug and what will  happen after your work is complete so you can be more proficient at your job.

• Are you part of a governmental or other agency concerned with policies and cost? This overview outlines the drug development process and will give you an idea of where changes can be made.

• Are you a high school or college student working on research papers about how a drug is developed and gets on the market? Not only will you have tons of information, but you will also get 80 references that you can look up and use in your research paper.

• Are you in an unrelated field and just want to know what it takes to get a new drug on the market and understand why drugs are so expensive?  Then this is the book for you.

Want to know more?

The book is divided into 12 chapters and 6 appendices; it also contains numerous links to related information, and a glossary of important terms.  And it is all in an easy to read document.

Here is what's covered:

• Timelines and Cost. Get details on how long the process takes and how much it costs to get a new drug on the market.

• Drug Discovery.Read about how compounds are found that can fight a disease and how they are tested to see if they can become drugs.

• Preclinical Studies.Learn about determining safety and effectiveness of a drug,finding a process to make the drug, and finding a suitable way to give the drug to patients.

• IND (Investigational New Drug) Submission. Find out about the document that needs to be submitted to and approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before the drug can be used in human clinical trials.

• Clinical Trials. Get more details on the three main phases of human clinical trials: Phase I (conducted in healthy volunteers), Phase II (conducted in patients with the disease), and Phase III (largest studies conducted in patients with disease).

• New Drug Application (NDA) Submission.Read about the document that needs to submitted to and approved by the FDA before a drug can be sold to patients.

• Phase IV Clinical Studies. Discover why some approved drugs need additional studies after they are on the market.

• Generic Drugs. Understand how and when generic drugs come on the market.

• Patents. Find out the roles of patents in the approval and marketing of original and generic drugs.

• What's Next. Learn what improvements are needed to make better drugs and make the process more efficient.