Inefficiencies in preclinical experimentation are significantly delaying project timelines and unnecessarily increasing material spend. This issue, known as Avoidable Experiment Expenditure (AEE), is finally starting to get the attention it warrants.
Irreproducibility rates in preclinical experiments exceed 50%, and cost the life science industry nearly $48 billion annually†
Drug development costs have almost doubled over the last decade, increasing from $1.18 billion in 2010 to $2.17 billion in 2018†
Return on investment has decreased 8.2 percentage points over the last decade, from 10.1% in 2010 to 1.9% in 2018†
This whitepaper examines a major contributor to these issues: Avoidable Experiment Expenditure. Research shows that AEE has a significant impact on life science organizations. But it can be resolved.
† Freedman, Leonard P., Iain M. Cockburn, and Timothy S. Simcoe. "The Economics of Reproducibility in Preclinical Research." PLOS Biology 13, no. 6 (September 2015).
https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1002165
(Freedman et al. report figures for the US only. We have extrapolated their data to reflect the fact that the US accounts for 58% of global pharmaceutical R&D. See:
https://www.abpi.org.uk/facts-and-figures/science-and-innovation/worldwide-pharmaceutical-company-rd-expenditure-by-country/)