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The following article gives the viewpoint of a consumer advocacy organization As Michael and others wrote - maybe the drug companies' high profits should be a welcome announcement for us. The question i would ask is - where the profits going -- towards developing new drugs or elsewhere? ALSO Murray Kastner wrote that in Canada - "We believe that a modern society has as one of its basic human rights the medical care of its citizen... " -- Murray I don't think you'll need to do much "running and ducking" from this group!! Living near the Canadian border, we hear there are organized bus trips to Ontario to purchase meds - mostly by seniors who can't afford the prices in New York. Linda FROM: "High Cost of New Drug Development Exposed as Myth. Arthur A. Levin 08/01/2001 HealthFacts Center for Medical Consumers, Inc. "U.S. drug manufacturers actually spend about one-fifth of the amount that they claim it costs for the research and development required to market a new prescription drug. This finding was published last month in a report issued by Public Citizen's Congress Watch, a Washington- based consumer advocacy organization. Rx R&D Myths is based on reviews of government and industry data. The drug industry's historic defense of extraordinarily high profitability has been that its revenues are critical for adequately funding the very high and risky investment costs of drug research and development (R&D). Current political efforts to control costs and thus industry profits will, the industry threatens, deprive Americans of important treatments. Alan Holmer, President of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the brand-drug industry trade association warned on National Public Radio, "Believe me, if we impose price controls...and if you reduce the R&D...it's going to harm my kids and it's going to harm those millions of Americans who have life-threatening conditions." But, according to Frank Clemente, director of Congress Watch, "This R&D scare is built on myths and falsehoods." The report's findings are politically important because the industry's previously unchallenged scare tactics have been very effective in stymying efforts to provide Medicare drug coverage and rein in skyrocketing drug costs. PhRMA, of course, never mentions the fact that the majority of drugs brought to market (over 75%) are not innovative products with clinically important therapeutic gains. Many are so-called "me-too" drugs offering no advantages over existing products and with R&D costs that are much lower than those for truly innovative new products. Congress Watch researchers found that the actual after-tax cash outlay for the R&D involved in getting a new drug to market is approximately $110 million dollars--as opposed to the $500 million figure traditionally bandied about by the PhRMA. The new estimate of $110 million R&D outlay per new approved drug also includes the costs of R&D for those drugs that fail to reach the market. The report also found that "Industry R&D risks and costs are significantly reduced by taxpayer-funded research." An internal National Institute of Health document obtained by Congress Watch through the Freedom of Information Act showed that publically funded research is critical to the development of top-selling drugs. NIH estimated that 55% of the research projects leading to the discovery and development of the five top-selling drugs in 1995 were taxpayer- funded. Undaunted, PhRMA has stood by its $500 million per new drug R&D estimate. Jeff Trewitt, a spokesperson for the association said that the figure "may even be conservative." PhRMA's own higher estimate is based on a 1991 published study that, according to Public Citizen, included significant expenses that are tax deductible as well as higher than justifiable estimates of the financial risks of R&D. The industry successfully fought a nine-year court battle all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to keep the federal watchdog General Accounting Office from seeing all of its R&D financial records. While Congress has the authority to subpoena industry records it has so far failed to do so. Its reluctance just might be influenced by the industry behavior documented in another recent Congress Watch report. The Other Drug War describes the drug industry as spending over $92 million to hire 625 lobbyists in 2000, half of whom were former members of Congress or had worked in Congress or other federal agencies. In all of 2000, the industry spent a total of $177 million on lobbying, $65 million on so-called "issue" ads attacking its political opponents and sprinkled $20 million around the halls of Congress in campaign contributions. I wonder, if the industry has nothing to hide about how it calculates the R&D costs of a new drug, why does it so strenuously resist efforts by the independent General Accounting Office to examine its financial records? " --- Arthur A. Levin, MPH, is the director of the Center for Medical Consumers in New York City. AND FROM: INSIDE THE INDUSTRY - FORTUNE 500: DRUG MAKERS ARE 'MOST PROFITABLE' INDUSTRY 04/20/2001 American Health Line "The pharmaceutical industry has proved "largely immune to the economic gyrations" that shook several other industries this year, making the industry "more profitable than any other," according to the new "Fortune 500" rankings. Fortune reports that the introduction of new pharmaceuticals and increased sales of patented "blockbuster" drugs helped create "a steady stream of revenues" for drug makers. The drug industry was the most profitable sector in 2000, posting an 18.6% return on revenues and a 17.7% return on assets. The pharmaceutical industry was ranked second in return on shareholders' equity, with a 29.4% profit rate. Merck & Co. and Bristol-Myers Squibb both ranked among the magazine's 20 most profitable companies. Merck took 11th place with $6.8 billion in profits and Bristol-Myers Squibb finished 19th with profits of $4.7 billion. Pfizer, which saw its revenues rise 82.5% last year, ranked fourth in overall market value with $243.2 billion. Amgen, Eli Lilly, Schering- Plough and Bristol-Myers Squibb all ranked among the top 20 companies producing the largest return on revenues. Within the drug industry, Merck posted the largest total revenue with $40.3 billion, followed by Pfizer with $29.5 billion, Johnson & Johnson with $29.1 billion, Bristol-Myers Squibb with $21.3 billion and Pharmacia with $18.1 billion. " ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn