This ASPE issue brief examines the research and development cost and duration associated with bringing novel vaccines to the U.S. market. The results indicate that bringing a novel vaccine to the U.S. market costs an estimated $886.8 million on average, and its development process lasts 10 years. Technological innovation, large public investments, increased review resources, and greater interaction with industry were among some of the activities that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic and that contributed to reducing the COVID-19 vaccine development process to around 2 years. Using some data from the COVID-19 pandemic, we estimate that speeding the vaccine development timeline could be associated with significant reductions in development costs.
