The Fiction Behind The Cost of New Drugs

February 17, 2012
Gooznews
By Merrill Goozner

The following column originally appeared in The Fiscal Times:

The drug industry usually defends the high price on drugs – the latest cancer therapies are tipping the scales at $100,000 a year – by pointing to the large sums it spends on research and development. It is true that drug firms spend alarger share of their revenue on R&D than most other industries, typically anywhere from 15 to 20 percent of sales. And Eli Lilly ran a Super Bowl ad claiming the cost of developing a new drug has now risen to more than $1.3 billion.

Now Matthew Herper of Forbes Magazine, usually an insightful writer on the drug industry, has raised the stakes. He wrote last week that the cost of developing a new drug had reached breathtaking level of $3.7 billion to $11.8 billion. Read more

Also In The News

Tell Us Your Thoughts

How do you feel about having to pay more than everyone else for your medication? Tell us your story. **By filling out this form you are giving RxRights permission to use your comments to help build support for safe, affordable drug importation.**