9 Out Of 10 Big Pharma Companies Spent More On Marketing Than On R&D
I would also note that 84% of the basic R&D funding is by the taxpayers.
What I am talking about is the research that discovers the basic science that leads to drugs.
I would argue that if we were to repeal the Bayh-Dole act, and once again require that federally funded inventions be assigned to the federal government, we would get more innovation, because universities would not be acting like private companies regarding their (our) inventions, and it would save enormous amounts of money, particularly with regard to pharmaceuticals.
The Washington consensus, which is that no matter how badly the private entities loot the rest of society, we must privatize everything, because ……… Capitalism!
It’s why we have hepatitis C drugs that are costing over $1,000.00 a pill.
As an alternative, have the government fund taking basic research to a marketable drug, and then allow drug manufacturers to bid for the right to manufacture those medications.
H/t The Big Picture.
I wonder how much smaller the R&D bubbles would get if you removed from consideration all R&D which is really just taking a drug that works perfectly well but is about to go off-patent, and replace it with one that won't work any better but is patentable.
Ah yes, "Evergreening".
Move a hydroxyl, and get 2 decades more exclusivity.