In terms of medical discovery the cost represented to a drug developing pharmaceutical company is immense; hundreds of millions of dollars can be spent in developing a new medical treatment for molecular identification to final registration after clinical trials. The “magic number” introduced in 2003 by a group of economists was $802 000 000 per new drug reaching final approval [1;2]. This number has been challenged [3] but still it represents the huge financial commitment pharmaceutical companies have to make. If the drug makes it through to phase III clinical trials or even registration it can still fail due to a variety of reasons (mostly safety) and have to be withdrawn, the biggest examples of this are Vioxx (2007, Merck&co) and Thalidamide (1957, Chemie Grunenthal). The total costs to these two companies for these drugs have never been documented but it has been estimated as to be in billions. - See more at: http://www.selleckchem.com/blog/HIGH-THROUGHPUT-SCREENING-FOR-NEW-DRUGS.html#sthash.SDxvHScT.dpuf