The total cost of bringing a drug to market is now estimated at about $2.5 billion, and the pressure to advance new drugs faster is greater than ever. Part of the challenge is the rising expense of late stage drug testing, which now typically costs several hundred million dollars. But developers can speed their drugs to market more easily if they learn more about a candidate drug’s chemical characteristics as early in the development as possible. The goal is to invest as little as possible before the drug candidate has proven it’s potential.