• Leadership and Structure
• Corporate Governance
• Public Policy
  • Access and Affordability
  • Pricing and Value
  • Health Care Reform
  • Resources
  • Pat the Pill
    • Pat Lends a Helping Hand
    • Other Ways to Save
    • How New Medicines Are Invented
    • A U.S. Patent
    • Testing for Safety and Effectiveness
    • What Are You Paying for Pat...and Why?
    • Meet Pat´s Relatives
    • Pat Earns His Keep-And Then Some
    • Introducing Pat to Doctors
    • Introducing Pat to the Public
    • Pat Grows Old and Loses His Patent
    • More Pats on the Way
• History
• Accolades

How New Medicines Are Invented

Thousands of Pfizer researchers are working to discover and develop new cures. They are searching every day for new medicines. They look for answers to the diseases that trouble us all. Pfizer spends billions of dollars each year on this effort.

You may be surprised to learn that a government-sponsored study looking at top-selling medicines found that more than 90% were invented by companies like Pfizer.¹ The U.S. government plays a part in research on diseases. But when it comes to developing drugs, companies lead the way.

Thousands fail before one succeeds. Before we found Pat, he was just one of thousands of possible cures. Most chemicals that we study never become medicines. For every Pat-that is, for every approved drug-there are 5 to 10 thousand others that don't make the cut.

Once Pat shows some promise, he starts on a long journey toward being a medicine you can use.

• Continue to A U.S. Patent

¹ NIH Response to the Conference Report Request for a Plan to Ensure Taxpayers' Interests are Protected. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Health. July 2001. Available at: http://www.nih.gov/news/070101wyden.htm. Accessed December 16, 2003.

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