Principles and Practice of Drug Development
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this graduate-level course covering the full arc of bringing a pharmaceutical or biopharmaceutical to market. Lessons move through drug discovery, preclinical testing, clinical trial design, manufacturing, and the regulatory hurdles that differ for small molecules versus large biologics. Faculty from clinical medicine, life sciences, and management teach jointly, and industry guests bring practical case discussion into the mix, including the economic and financial calculations that shape which drugs companies pursue. Materials include lecture notes, readings, and assignments drawn from MIT's Sloan School of Management and Health Sciences and Technology programs. The course treats drug development as a multidisciplinary problem rather than a purely scientific one, weighing scientific feasibility against regulatory risk and financial return at each stage. No enrollment fee; materials are freely downloadable under MIT OpenCourseWare's license.