Drug development involves preclinical and clinical phases. Preclinical development can take 1-5 years and involves in vitro and in vivo studies to determine pharmacological efficacy, safety, and first human dose. Clinical development has four phases. Phase I studies a drug's safety on 50-100 healthy volunteers. Phase II assesses efficacy on 100-400 patients. Phase III verifies efficacy and safety on 500-2000 patients across sites. Phase IV monitors safety post-marketing through physician reporting. The goal is to determine a drug's pharmacological properties, safety, and efficacy to support regulatory approval and post-market surveillance.