DB, MD

Pharmaceutical Facts Investors Should Know

I find it humorous how many of the posts above consider big pharma to be the low profit, risky businesses. This is an industry that spends collectively 12% on R&D and 30% on marketing. It is an industry that pushes out drug after drug for hypertension when there are already over 50 drugs that accomplish the task well, because even capturing 1% of the market will pay off on the low R&D required for a "me-too" drug.

You have drug reps flooding physician offices pushing one "me-too" after another. This is a recipe for disaster when the industry chooses to reinvest into marketing crap and into being the largest lobby in Washington rather than on truly innovating. More money is likely spent on lawyers fighting expiration of patents than on problem-solving, as this adds more to the bottom line.

Pharmaceutical Facts Investors Should Know

As a physician I can safely reply to CLH, that the theft is more often the other way around. Typically, the researchers at NIH will develop a compound, prove it works and then license it to a pharma company. Case in point look at the treatment of Gaucher's disease, yearly treatment cost over $100K, for a treatment developed by public research.