Taking shots at the drug industry has been alot like criticizing our parents: fun, commonplace but basically harmless. It's easy to complain about our parents. They cast such a big shadow on our lives and seem to have made our lives more difficult than necessary. Worse yet, it feels one-sided as they move along seemingly impervious to our problems without having any of their own.
Global opinion has joined in this childish rant against drug companies: "they're selfish and insensitive to my needs." As a result, the drug companies' outcry against importation of cheaper drugs, generic lawsuits that amount to "legal lotteries," clever ploys of managed healthcare and absurd domestic legal actions has been ignored or laughed at as just another marketing ploy. But, awareness is growing about the damaging impact of these issues. Last year, only 20 new drugs were approved, despite $38 billion in expenditures for research and development. This implies a cost of nearly $2 billion per drug approved. This approval rate is down from 31 new drugs in 2004, which had implied a then stunning cost of nearly $800 million per drug approved.
Finally, somebody's listening to the drug companies' plea for help. Today, the FDA announced new guidelines for the preliminary phases of drug development. These moves are aimed at ultimately raising the number of new drugs introduced by making the development process more reasonable and less costly. It's a welcome turning point for the drug companies.
As when our parents really do have problems, we become reminded of who got us "down the road." No industry has done more for quality of life on this planet than the drug industry. It looks like some people are starting to remember that.
These results still seem appropriate. In 2017, drug research costs were significantly higher than $100 billion (taking only the top 15 companies) and 46 new drugs were approved by the FDA - a doubling in new drug approval from 2016. The costs continue to run somewhere between $2 and $3 billion per drug. There is no clear solution to spiraling drug costs in a world where drug discovery becomes increasingly difficult (Eroom's law).
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