text: Drug discovery is the area of research and development that amounts to the most time and money. The process can involve scientists to determine the germs, viruses, and bacteria that cause a specific disease or illness.  The time frame can range from 3–20 years and costs can range between several billion to tens of billions of dollars. Research teams attempt to break down disease components to find abnormal events/processes taking place in the body.  Only then do scientists work on developing chemical compounds to treat these abnormalities with the aid of computer models.
  After "discovery" and a creation of a chemical compound, pharmaceutical companies move forward with the Investigational New Drug (IND) Application from the FDA.  After the investigation into the drug and given approval, pharmaceutical companies can move into pre-clinical trials and clinical trials.