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.