How to Slash the Cost of Drug Development
Unlikely.<p><pre><code>  It has done this with US$290 million—about one-quarter of what 
  a typical pharmaceutical company would spend to develop just 
  one drug. The model for its success is the product development 
  partnership (PDP), a style of non-profit organization that 
  became popular in the early 2000s. PDPs keep costs down 
  through collaboration—with universities, governments and the 
  pharmaceutical industry.
</code></pre>
So, was the $290 million the <i>total</i> amount for all 26 trials? Or did the collaborators kick in money? Because otherwise this is like claiming you&#x27;ve found a way to buy a new Tesla for $1000-- as long as your parents pay the other $69,000!<p><pre><code>  Drug development from scratch is arduous and expensive. It 
  begins with experiments on hundreds of thousands of 
  chemicals in the lab, looking for one that kills a pathogen 
  without harming the host. 
</code></pre>
The article does not go out of its way to mention that this <i>isn&#x27;t</i> the expensive and arduous part. The clinical trials are what&#x27;s expensive, since you have to pay thousands of people, who have the disease you&#x27;re targeting, to take your experimental drug. In many cases, they have to take your drug <i>instead</i> of a drug that&#x27;s known to work. And you have to follow these people for years, just in case they don&#x27;t all suddenly get liver cancer and die a year after they stop taking your drug. (Something like this cost Merck $4.85 billion dollars in 2004: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Rofecoxib" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Rofecoxib</a> )<p><pre><code>  The final trials on fexinidazole conclude this year, and 
  Wourgaft is hopeful that the data will earn regulators&#x27; 
  stamp of approval. The project has so far cost the DNDi 
  about $45 million—and it stands to help 21 million people at 
  risk of the disease in Africa.
</code></pre>
<i>Which</i> regulators? There is a rather huge difference between the FDA and the Central African Republic&#x27;s FDA-equivalent. Is this how they&#x27;re saving money on clinical trials, by running clinical trials on Africans, and only getting regulatory approval from African states?