It has been estimated that 10-15 per cent of the costs of drug discovery in the US and Britain goes towards animal testing — the total cost of bringing a new drug to the market can be more than $US1 billion ($A1.3 billion). Harassment of animal testing laboratories, the scientists associated with them and the businesses that breed animals for research has significantly added to costs. How to get around this problem? Increasingly, outsourcing to Asia will be the answer. Asia's authoritarian governments that clamp down on troublesome pressure groups and muzzle inquisitive media, and Asia's cost competitiveness, will all prove a big attraction.
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