> I did a quick Google search on this and the R&D annual budget for the > NIH (US government health research) is 28 billion and Novartis spent 4.8 > billion in 2005 on R&D.
One has to be pretty careful about throwing around these numbers. The US spends considerably more than $28B. There are substantial contributions to medical research made by other agencies such as the military thru the VA, DARPA, etc. Some states also appropriate money for medical research. California, New York and Massachusetts spend several billions each every year. Then there are the quasi-public charities such as the National Cancer Society, foundations like Ford, Gates, etc. Direct non-grant funding at many universities, etc. Much of the money spent by drug companies on R&D goes into the "D" rather than the "R." I think the system is overly weighted to the drug companies' favor, but nobody in power seems overly anxious to challenge it, although once in a while, a University will try and cut a better royalty deal for itself.. The US and Japan are the only advanced countries without universal health care, and those governments do not negotiate drug prices. Thus, there is a two-tier pricing system in the developed world for most drugs. US and Japanese residents pay much more than other developed countries. As someone pointed out, the marketing and sales expenses of drug companies are at least double the R&D. The distribution system is partly to blame for that. In any event, the issues are purely political in the US, and the politicians have no interest in changing the system. I personally think the only chance to lower drug costs will come when the majority of baby boomers are on Medicare and the system will no longer be able to bear the cost. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ [CMLHope] A support group of http://cmlhope.com ------------------------------------------------- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CMLHope" group. To post to this group, send email to CMLHope@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/CMLHope -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
