By examining these samples for the presence of radiocarbon, the developer of a particular drug can see whether the active ingredients are absorbed into the body and, if they are, how long they persist there. If they do get absorbed and then persist, the drug is probably worth developing further. If not, then it can be abandoned before any more expensive tests are conducted. And by using people rather than experimental animals for the tests, the researchers can be confident that the results are applicable to humans.

using spectrometers to track tiny doses of new compounds to find out if they can cross the blood / brain barrier, for instance. should speed up pharma r&d quite a bit.

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