A lot of people complain about how much drugs cost in America--$400 a year, $4,000 a month, drugs that can cost $10,000 a year (like some immunosuppresants).
Do you know how much it costs to develop a drug, on average?
$802 million dollars.
Over 10-15 years.
That's a lot of money, and the drug companies pay for failures, over and over. Drugs just don't magically appear. They need years, even decades, of clinical research and testing trials. Only a scanty few make it through the rigorous FDA approval process.
How many scripts would it take to pay back the R&D investment? A whole lot. More than some drugs will ever see.
So the next time you complain about high drug prices, think about this--the reason we have the drugs at all is because some of that money goes back into R&D, to make new drugs to save lives.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
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1 comment:
Very true.
I caught myself complaining about a new medicine I'm trying that's a whopping $300/month. Sure it's a lot of money, but it's nothing compared to the price of some drugs, and it's a drop in the bucket compared to what it cost Big Pharm to develop it. It's worth it if it makes me feel better!
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