Scale of Drug Development

So what is the scale at which drug development happens? Let’s check your best guesses.

1. About how many clinical trials happen globally each year?

2. About how many new drugs get approved by the FDA each year?

3. What percentage of Americans have participated in a clinical trial?

4. About how many clinical investigators are there in the US?

(Scroll down for answers)

Answers

1. About how many clinical trials happen globally each year?

Answer: About 35,000-40,000 trials are registered with clintrials.gov every year (worldwide). Of these, about 12,000 are in the US).

2. About how many new drugs get approved by the FDA each year?

Answer: Over the past 10 years, an average of only 43 drugs were approved each year.

3. What percentage of Americans have participated in a clinical trial?

Answer: About 5% of Americans. That’s about 16.5 million people!

4. How about, how many clinical investigators are there in the US?

Answer: About 45,000

Interested in what it means to be a clinical investigator? Watch this [OPTIONAL] 2 minute video: