The long road of biopharmaceutical drug development: from inception to marketing

The development of therapeutics is costly, time-consuming and has high attrition rates. Biopharmaceutical medications differ from traditional agents in their discovery, design, structure and formulation. Prior to marketing a drug must show efficacy and acceptable toxicity in both preclinical and clinical trials. Regulatory bodies have a pivotal role in the licensing, naming and marketing of an agent.