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Asked by 655drud32 to Anne, Sinead, Florence, Mark, Neil on 9 Nov 2015. This question was also asked by 342drud32, CK16, Shane O.
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Mark Collins answered on 9 Nov 2015:
As with any drug it takes a long time, typically 10-15 years! First you need to decide what virus you want to vaccinate against then develop the vaccine that you believe will be successful. It the undergoes pre-clinical trials where it will be tested on animals to see if it works and if it toxic.
When the laboratory is happy that it feels this vaccine/drug works, it submits to the authorities who will review the data and see if this product is not already on the market and they will constantly do this, the licensing body will not release a new drug to market unless it is making an improvement on what is already available.
It will then undergo Phase I, Phase II and Phase III clinical trials, if it is successful then it will be put forward for registration and licensing and will be available for administration to patients across the world. This process is very long and also very expensive, typically can cost $1 billion! And this is why only 1 in 100 vaccines or drug products make it from lab to market, the process is very comprehensive and this is to protect the patient!
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Sinead Balgobin answered on 9 Nov 2015:
A very long time. I think the other scientists will have a better idea (Mark has already given an excellent and detailed answer) but it can take up to 20 years, and some may have even taken much longer. It takes so long because we want to make the best medicines, the ones that are the best for making you better and have the least side effects. This means that so many possible drugs that we develop never become medicines- they just aren’t good enough. There is a lot of testing so that we can make sure we are doing the best thing for the patients.
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