From idea to market

A practitioner's map of drug development: what happens at each stage, who is busy, which rules apply, and what usually goes wrong.

Target to approval10 to 15 years
Reach approval from Phase 1about 1 in 10
Cost per approved drugUS$1bn to 2.6bn

The map

Six stages from target to market. Hover or tab to a stage for a summary, click or press Enter to open its page.

    Six stages, in order. Each opens its own page.

    Follow a molecule

    Pick a modality and press Play. The molecule walks the pipeline while the card explains each step.

    Follow a molecule:

    All eight stages

    The same pipeline with Clinical split into its three phases. Hover for a summary, click to open.

    The software along the path

    Which systems run each stage. A darker square means the category is more central there. Hover a square for a summary, click a row for the products and where the evidence comes from.

    Browse by section

    Everything around the pipeline: the three axes, the functions, the rules and the systems.

    Practitioner reference, not regulatory advice. US framing uses FDA terminology; EU framing uses EMA and EudraLex terminology. Durations, costs and attrition are indicative and drawn from commonly cited public estimates; check current guidance and your own programme data before relying on any figure. Last revised September 2026.

    Workload in each cell Not active Supporting Active Leading or on the critical path
    Analytical lane Supporting Active Leading Selected cell

    The picture is for an in-house programme. In a virtual biotech most lanes are outsourced to CROs and CDMOs, but the sponsor still owns the decisions and the regulatory accountability.