Cancer drugs cost far less to develop than industry-backed research asserts, an analysis published Monday asserts. Research and development costs are a major reason that drug companies justify high prices, so this dispute has a direct bearing on the cost of medical care.
The analysis, published in the current issue of JAMA Internal Medicine, concludes that it costs, on average, $650 million to develop a new cancer drug. The authors add in another $100 million or so to account for income those companies could have had if that money had been invested in the stock market instead of in new products.
That total is far lower than the $2.7 billion figure that the drug industry frequently points to when it justifies the soaring cost of medicine. (It's far higher than $320 million — an inflation-adjusted figure from a 2001 study by the consumer group Public Citizen).
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4 comments:
I am not a scientist and do not pretend to know the first thing about pathology, BUT, it would seem to me that in today's world with the brain trust we enjoy and the advanced technology there would be greater advances against cancer. I know medicine has made great strides over the years but I have never heard good things about chemotherapy and am just of the opinion we should know how to treat this terrible disease better.
It is within the pharmacologists best interest for a cure for cancer NOT to be found.
Sad but true.
Sure, the industry is bloating the costs (huh, business interests - go figure), but no one I know practicing medicine feels as you say. No, every pharmacologist & researcher I know would cure cancer tomorrow if they could.
They have accountants that are so good, these pharma companies gets REFUNDS on their taxes. FAT bonuses and homes on the California coast.
AFTER using PUBLIC money to develop new drugs ("we, the people" pay for the overwhelming majority of development and testing), they get a patent (??) that allows them to rake in BILLIONS and never pay the taxpayer back.
The very same drugs that we pay for are then sold back to us at prices that are stunning. They ARE, however, sold for pennies overseas to people to never put a dime into our treasury.
Guess who makes all this possible? Your "leaders".
Not "your guy" though. Thank God we have him.
Keep cheering.
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