NPR

R&D Costs For Cancer Drugs Are Likely Much Less Than Industry Claims, Study Finds

Industry says it costs about $2.7 billion to bring a cancer drug to market. But oncologists who ran the numbers put the average closer to $650 million. Drugs are priced way too high, the doctors say.
A study of chemotherapy medicines produced by 10 companies found that, on average, each drug produced seven times as much revenue for its manufacturer as it cost in research and development.

Cancer drugs cost far less to develop than industry-backed research asserts, an analysis published Monday asserts. Research and development costs are a major reason that drug companies justify high prices, so this dispute has a direct bearing on the cost of medical care.

The , published in the current issue of , concludes that it costs, on average, $650 million to develop a new cancer drug. The authors add in another $100 million or so to

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