Rationale for the NF Cure Project Obtaining select drugs from the pharmaceutical industry to test in NF research models and operating within a non-profit framework are the two key NF Cure Project features that are needed to ensure successful completion of the NF Cure Project mission of finding effective therapies for the neurofibromatoses as quickly as possible.   Testing already existing drugs from the pharmaceutical industry saves enormous time and money.  Discovering a brand new drug in the laboratory and conducting human clinical trials before the drug can be FDA approved can cost on average over $1 billion and take about 12-20 years (see Drug development).  By obtaining a pharmaceutical company’s drug, already known to have the desired molecular effect, and already being used in clinical trials for another disease, the NF Cure Project takes advantage of the pharmaceutical company’s investment in research and development regarding that drug and bypasses much of the time and cost of developing an NF drug from the very beginning of preclinical research.  The non-profit status of the NF Cure Project eases negotiations with pharmaceutical companies and enhances the access to desirable drugs for testing.  One could easily see the enormous investment that a pharmaceutical company makes to successfully progress a drug into human clinical trials.  When negotiating with the NF Cure Project to form a partnership and allow access to their prized drugs for NF research, the pharmaceutical company can be reassured that the NF Cure Project mission and activities are not in any way influenced by any profit motive that could compromise the research or the interests of the pharmaceutical company in its drug.  This greatly simplifies negotiations and allows the NF Cure Project access to drugs that would likely be denied to a for-profit entity (see Progress).  Finding therapies for the neurofibromatoses as soon as possible is the sole mission of the NF Cure Project, and it is also the sole reward.