Reply #9: How Big Pharma distorts the costs of developing new drugs

[xchrom]

http://www.latimes.com/health/la-fi-hiltzik-20110403,0,788500.column

Every time I come across a big-number statistic about the size or significance of some industrial activity, my nose wrinkles.

You know the figures I mean: The porn business takes in $10 billion to $14 billion a year. California's marijuana harvest is worth $14 billion a year, making it the state's biggest cash crop. NCAA March Madness costs employers $1.8 billion in lost productivity.

Figures like these have several things in common: They're eye-catchingly big, they're unverifiable by empirical means and they reek of fakery.

The statistic that may be most hazardous to your health is one pegging the research and development cost of bringing a new drug to market at $1.3 billion. Its purveyor is the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), which exploits the number's shock value to secure its lobbying agenda on Capitol Hill.