saudi firm develops anti-swine flu drug , page-5

"began working on it since the first case of swine flu was announced"

So they started research in April/May and now have a drug ready for sale.

Drug discovery takes years.
Pre-clinical tests on animals takes a few months
Phase I trials on a small number of humans to test for side effects take a few months.
Phase II and III drug effectiveness and safety trials alone take 3-6 months each.
Trials on long term safety take a few years
The stats for each trial takes 2-3 months to do
The regulators take a few months to review the data from each trial before deciding the next phase.

So which parts did the skip?

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