Well, let's see. Some drug company or group of investors must think it's potentially profitable to develop into a real treatment. Then they have to move up th

Well, let's see. Some drug company or group of investors must think it's potentially profitable to develop into a real treatment. Then they have to move up the trials ladder, from mice to humans and the steps in-between. Then they have to get regulatory approval. Finally, assuming the steps prior didn't fail horribly, they need to set up the manufacturing for the drug. All the meanwhile handing off money to a bunch of people who, more likely than not, never worked for the company in the form of earnings-per-share. So, yeah, a couple decades.