eTect has developed an innovative solution to collecting vital clinical trial information sought by the pharmaceutical industry for many years — adherence.

Billions of dollars are spent each year developing new drugs. Reports from the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development place the average cost to develop a single new drug at $802 million, of which the clinical trial phase may consume up to half. The average cost per participant in a clinical trial in 2008 was $7931. Estimates derived from clinicaltrials.gov and other sources indicate more than 8 million people participated in more than 20,000 clinical drug trials in 2009. Clinical trials are the fundamental evaluation of safety and efficacy of a new drug.

How many participants in clinical trials took their medicine as prescribed? No one knows.