Article: The Economics of Reproducibility in Preclinical Research

Posted: June 15th, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: found on the net, Research Data | Tags: , , , | Comments Off on Article: The Economics of Reproducibility in Preclinical Research

preclinical_250_AIDSVaccine_flickrIn 2012, an estimated 114.8 billion $ in the US were spent on life sciences research. Roughly half of it is spent on preclinical research, with government sources providing the majority of funding – approximatly 38 billion US$.

Now, three researchers calculate the costs of irreproducible research in preclinical research near 28 billion $ – only for the United States alone. That is the conclusion of a study published in PLoS Biology a few days ago.

In the opinion of the study’s authors, the giant amount of 28 billion $ accumulates, because low reproducibility rates within life science research undermine cumulative knowledge production and contribute to both delays and costs of therapeutic drug development.

Read the rest of this entry »