Senior Member
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 1,135
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Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 1,135
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A billion here, a billion there, soon U R talkin' real money
Big Pharma expenditures are generally in this ballpark:
25% profit
25% marketing
25% making pills and running the company
15% Research
The rest covers:
- the $30 billion in fines for criminal actions, felony and fraud since 1992
- out-of-court settlements with people harmed by their drugs
- according to M.A. Gagnon and J. Lexchin (PLOS 5, No.1) “in the United States, the pharmaceutical industry spends up to $42 billion in promotion towards physicians every year, which is, on average, $61,000 per physician per year to influence their prescribing habits and generate profits.”
- paying patient advocacy groups and increasing numbers of paid internet posters. But maybe that is covered in the marketing budget.
The cost of the actual research is not where the action is.
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